Hunter Hunted
by wolfraven80
Summary: AxH, mostly UST, post TTP. Months after Opal's escape at Hook Head, Artemis and Holly are again thrown together when an LEP officer goes missing, and reports surface of a 'monster' in Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan.
1. One: The Cloisters

**Hunter Hunted**

**One: The Cloisters**

The room had three entrances. Since there was only one Butler, the bodyguard had stationed himself at the doorway that led out into the Cuxa cloister, a garden enclosed on four sides by a colonnaded arcade, one of three such gardens here at the Cloisters Museum in Manhattan. Glancing over his shoulder, Artemis could see the sunlight slanting through the arches and into the arcade, each a golden pool on the stone floor. _Aurum est potestes_. It had been his credo once, but he had since learned that there was more than one kind of gold.

The Cloisters museum had been created thanks to American industrialist J.D. Rockefeller in the 1930s and was a treasure trove of medieval art and artifacts. The edifice itself was a chimerical creation, assembled from the parts of five French cloisters which had been disassembled and reassembled here in Fort Tryon Park, Manhattan. The jewel of the collection, was, beyond a doubt, the Unicorn Tapestries.

Artemis glanced towards the doorway as he heard the bass rumble of Butler's voice but whomever the bodyguard was speaking to was obscured by his hulking frame so Artemis returned his attention to the tapestry before him.

Woven in the fifteen hundreds, the seven Unicorn Tapestries depicted a unicorn hunt, from the gathering of the huntsmen and their hounds, to the discovery and slaying of the unicorn, and a curious final image of the unicorn resurrected and kept in a circular pen. They were hung floor to ceiling in a single hall off the Cuxa cloister and were the feature attraction of the Cloisters.

Arms crossed, brow creased, Artemis stood before the penultimate tapestry, studying it.

In the upper left corner was the slaying of the unicorn. A pair of hunters jabbed their spears into the creature's neck and side while their hounds tore at its flanks. A third man held a sword aloft, preparing to deliver the killing blow. The unicorn's head was thrown back, mouth open, tongue lolling out in grotesque agony.

In the centre of the tapestry was the hunting party bringing the slain unicorn to the castle in the far right corner. The creature's body was slung over the back of a war steed. Blood oozed from its wounds. And around its neck hung a prickly wreath of holly and oak.

The sound of footfalls on the stone floor was muted by the tapestries. He kept his attention on the woven scene before him until the footfalls fell silent and he sensed someone standing next to him. Smiling, he turned to look. He already knew who would be there.

A slim figure, no more than a meter in height, dressed in khaki pants, a violently yellow shirt with a pokémon on it, and a Mets ball cap.

He reached down and tilted the brim of her cap up so he could see her face.

"That colour suits you."

"I feel like a canary."

"You know, Holly," he began, a slight quirk to his lips, "if you're going to go undercover, you might want to choose an outfit that's a bit more subtle."

She glowered up at him. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to find human clothes that fit on short notice?"

"I'm afraid not. In any case, I'm glad to see the commander finally restored your surface privileges."

"So am I. It's good to breathe surface air again. Even the smoggy stuff around here."

After their time-travelling stunt a few months ago, Commander Kelp, head of LEPrecon, had had to discipline his wayward officer. There had, of course, also been a lengthy investigation by Internal Affairs and Holly had only narrowly avoided being sent back to Traffic. "I've been stuck investigating a missing shuttle."

"A missing shuttle?"

"In all likelihood some delinquent adolescents took it out for a joyride and it'll turn up somewhere in an old service chute." Holly sniffed. "It's Vice Squad work, not Recon."

"And yet here you are," Artemis said. "I take it you're here on business?"

She sighed. "Aren't I always?"

"I suppose so." But he didn't ask what business it was. He already knew the answer and somehow he found himself hoping to delay a little longer. They kept in touch via email and the fairy communicator she had given him, but after everything they'd been through it seemed unjust that they should so rarely be in each other's company. After everything...

Holly's face crinkled into a grimace as she studied the tapestry. He didn't need to ask to know what she must be thinking.

He turned to look at it once more. "We hunted them into extinction, didn't we?"

"Hmm?" she said, still peering at the depiction of the hunt.

"The unicorns."

"Yes. Ages ago." She crossed her arms, shaking her head. "This sort of thing is the reason the People had go live belowground. When Mud People see something magical they either kill it," she said, gesturing towards the sixth tapestry, "or cage it," she concluded, waving in the direction of the seventh tapestry where the resurrected unicorn sat in its circular paddock, a jewelled collar around its neck tethering it to a tree.

"As you know from firsthand experience," Artemis quipped.

She peered up at him, a wry smile on her lips. "You really are developing a sense of humour – a twisted one, mind you."

"The time I've spent with Mulch over the years must be having an effect."

Holly's smile did not quite touch her eyes. "Let's get down to business."

He nodded. Her speech was more clipped than usual and he could not but feel that it was due to more than her distaste for canary yellow. But after the lie he'd told her, the way he'd manipulated her, he could not expect Holly to forgive him. At least not just yet...

"Are we being recorded?" he asked.

Holly shook her head. "I had to leave my helmet so it's just us. So, Artemis, why are you here?"

"For the same reason you are, I should imagine," he replied. "The alleged monster sightings have been all over the news. When I heard that several fairies had gone missing in this area as well it seemed worth investigating."

"Wait, how did you hear about the missing fairies?"

A smug smile. "You don't expect me to reveal my sources, do you?"

"More hacking, Artemis?"

He waved a hand dismissively. "That's hardly the point." From what he'd gleaned from the centaur's files, the pair of fairies had been stationed at a fairy fort in Fort Tryon Park, a monitoring facility of some sort. Both had vanished at just the same time as the "monster" reports had begun circulating through the Manhattan newspapers. "At first I thought perhaps there was a rogue troll, but the LEPrecon would have already captured the beast if it were."

"We're not sure what it is," Holly said. "But it got one of us."

He cocked his head. This was news. "What happened?"

"The Recon officer who was sent to investigate the disappearances didn't make it back. Whatever it was, it got him from behind... _while he was shielded_."

That earned a raised eyebrow. There weren't many creatures that could detect a fairy when he was shielded, at least not without technological assistance. "Was there a recording?"

She shook her head. "No visual, just a lot of screaming. And it was fast. He flatlined before he could even fire his weapon."

Artemis scowled. "And they sent you up alone?"

"I'm not here on Recon. Trouble ordered me here as soon as your jet touched down."

"I take it Foaly's still monitoring my activities."

A smiled quirked Holly's lips. "I don't think he can help himself. Especially when you keep giving him good reason to. When he found out you were headed to New York..." She shrugged. "There's no such thing as coincidence when it comes to Artemis Fowl."

"So they sent you."

"I'm considered the foremost expert on you, Artemis."

Smiling, he caught her mismatched gaze. "And so you are."

She opened her mouth to make some reply but then snapped it shut and looked away. He could not see her face beneath the brim of her cap.

A young couple wandered in and began making the rounds of the gallery. "We should walk," Artemis suggested. Holly nodded curtly and they meandered over to the opposite side of the hall.

"So you hacked Foaly's files, found out about some missing fairies and a monster, and decided to stick your nose in it for no other reason?" Holly said, incredulous, as they came to a halt before the fourth tapestry in which the unicorn, encircled by the hunters and their hounds, struggled to defend itself. "There's more to it than that."

Stiffening, he kept his eyes fixed on the tapestry and took a deep breath before speaking two words, "Opal Koboi." He could feel Holly's gaze boring into him so finally he pressed on. "I find it peculiar that there could be so many sighting of the creature yet the only attacks have been on fairies. Opal isn't one to remain idle."

"And I suppose you want me to go back to Haven and tell the commander you're doing this for love of the fairy people?"

There was steel in his voice when he replied. "My mother, Holly. Opal possessed and manipulated her to get to me. And she was conscious the entire time. All the while, my mother was aware, a prisoner inside her own body. I think that's reason enough, wouldn't you say?"

"Artemis..."

She squeezed his arm and it was with a peculiar mix of pride and sorrow that he realized he'd grown too tall for her to comfortably reach for his shoulder.

For a long moment the only sound was the hum of chatter from the young couple and then the clatter of their footsteps as they drew nearer. Wordlessly, Holly and Artemis moved on to another of the tapestries.

"Artemis," she began finally, "whatever this creature is, it's dangerous. The sort of thing a full retrieval team should be taking care of."

He quirked an eyebrow. "I didn't bring Butler along because he was interested in touring the museum. Besides that, I'm here to gather information. Nothing more." _At least at present._

Holly rolled her eyes. "After all these years do you really expect me to fall for a line like that?"

"No. Not particularly."

A security guard shuffled into the gallery and Artemis checked his watch. Five o'clock. Visiting hours were nearly at an end. As he glanced over his shoulder, the sunlight slanting into the arcade had the mellow tinge of dusk already. The sun set so much earlier at this latitude. "The museum closes its doors in fifteen minutes. We can talk outside."

Holly nodded, but then Artemis lingered for a moment, his eyes on the tapestry, the second one in the cycle. Oblivious to the hunters, the unicorn knelt to dip its horn into a murky river and purify it.

"Artemis?"

"The river which the unicorn restores in this scene," he began, gesturing towards the lower portion of the tapestry, "is the same one that flows beneath the castle to which they'll carry the creature's corpse in the sixth tapestry." He caught her eye so that she could not miss his meaning, "The tragic irony is that they have betrayed the very being that saved them."

She met his gaze and he saw his own regret reflected there.

**ooo**

As they walked the paths of Fort Tryon Park, beneath the shadow of the Cloisters, Holly could not help but regret that only a few trees had begun to change their leaves. The splendour of autumn colours was not something she got to see often, especially in daylight, and it would have been a pleasant treat, perhaps even enough to make up for this bittersweet reunion with her friend. Or maybe she'd just have felt she could blend in more if the leaves were as violently yellow as her purloined shirt.

She glanced over at Artemis. She was glad to see him again of course, but things were different. She needed to keep her guard up for both their sakes.

Something rustled in the greenery to their left and Butler cast a darting glance in that direction. He kept a few paces behind them as they walked, Holly noted, and she could not miss the way his eyes were scanning the path around them. He was like a jaguar on the prowl. She suspected that he did not care for parks; it was hard to provide security in an open area. Holly's hand wandered into her pocket where she'd stuffed her Neutrino 4500 – the latest model, fresh from Foaly's new patents. It was one thing to stow her helmet, but she was not about to leave behind her weapon, undercover or no.

In silence, they passed beneath a stone bridge, half covered in leafy vines. Holly drank in the cool, evening air and the scent of heather on the breeze, but she had to bite back a snide comment about Mud Men when she noted the black squiggles of graffiti that marred the bridge's exposed stonework.

Tired of Artemis's prolonged silence, she finally went ahead and started. "What about Gene-Trix?"

Artemis nodded. "I see Foaly did his research. It does seem oddly coincidental that a genetics laboratory should be situated only a few kilometres away."

"According to you media, the facility has had some sketchy dealings in the past."

"Some questionable procedures involving stem-cells, but nothing on the level of what you're suggesting. Human technology is not far enough advanced to create a monster. Fairy technology is another matter."

"That sort of meddling has been banned for centuries."

"I doubt that's of any concern to Opal."

Holly heaved a sigh. In the months since Opal escaped the LEP at Hook Head, there had been no trace of her. It was bad enough having one mad pixie around. To have another, one that could levitate, shoot bolts, and possess people was tenfold worse. "If we were talking about the Opal who's locked up in Atlantis, I'd say this was out of her field. She wasn't known for tampering in biology, but what you saw in the past..."

Along the path, old-fashion iron cast lampposts flickered to life as twilight settled over the park. "We should head back," Butler announced. It was more than a suggestion.

"Yes, of course," Artemis said and turned back in the direction of the parking lot. They'd already lingered longer than most. The tourists had not dared chance the park in the evening – this was New York after all.

"I'll walk you there, but unless you have something more to tell me I'll need to report back."

Artemis's brow furrowed. "So soon?"

She kept her eyes on the path ahead. "I was only sent here to find out what you know." She sniffed. Sometimes she thought it would kill Artemis to be straightforward and truthful. Now and then, when trying to distract herself from the e-forms piled on her desk waiting to be filled out, she tried to imagine it. The vision always ended with his head imploding.

"I assure you I'd have spoken not a word had it been anyone else."

"And I'm sure the commander knows that."

"I thought you'd be grateful for a visit aboveground."

"Artemis," she said, sighing. She shook her head and then turned to look up at him. He was getting so tall all of a sudden. Sometimes she missed the boy who'd been barely taller than her... But then she remember what a devious little monster he'd been at that age and thought better of it. "I _am_ glad to see you," she said, offering a smile.

For a moment she stared into his blue and hazel eyes... and then turned away. "Holly," he began and for a moment she almost believe she caught a tinge of regret in his voice.

And then Butler shouted and before she could do more than grip her weapon, something struck her between the shoulder blades and knocked her clean off her feet.


	2. Two: Crash Course

**Two: Crash Course**

"Get down, Artemis!"

But Artemis hardly had time to do more than blink before something leaped from the overhanging branch of an elm, taking Holly to the ground. He staggered back, trying to focus on the shape, eyes wide in the dusky light. Four legs and fur was all he could make out before Butler put three rounds in its flanks; he dared not aim higher for risk of hitting Holly. Artemis's breath caught. Blue sparks fizzled over the bullet wounds.

The creature bellowed, swaying on an injured leg and then bounded back into the underbrush. Butler kept his gun trained on the spot where the creature had disappeared while Artemis knelt to check on Holly. There were four rents in the back of her shirt that extended to the Shimmer Suit she still wore beneath her disguise, but no blood, he was relieved to find.

"Holly, are you all right?"

"We need to get out of here," Butler announced. "Now." And without hesitation he plucked Holly from the ground and slung the stunned-looking elf over his shoulder.

As they pelted back down the path beneath the stone bridge, a yowl echoed off the stonework, distorted into a banshee's wail. Artemis's pulse thrummed in his temples and his lungs burned for oxygen. He'd been meaning to get in better shape for these sorts of occasions, he really had...

By the time they reached the rental car, Artemis's chest was heaving and his brow was covered by a sheen of sweat even in the cool, autumn air. Yet he could not help but notice that Butler too was struggling for breath as his lungs strained against the kevlar embedded in his chest.

Butler wasted no time. He placed Holly in the back of the car while Artemis dragged himself in and then they were peeling out of the parking lot like a dwarf out of the noonday sun.

Holly groaned as she pulled herself into a sitting position. "Are you okay, back there?" Butler asked, his eyes focussed on the road.

"I just had the wind knocked out of me," Holly assured. "Good thing for the suit, though. It absorbed most of the impact, otherwise I'd have a lot of broken ribs now." She rolled up the sleeve of her pokemon shirt and began tapping at a panel on her Shimmer Suit. "I may have to walk home, though. It hit me right in the suit's wing mechanisms. They're shorted out. What happened?"

"Our monster came calling," Artemis said. It had had healing magic; though he'd not been able to make out much more of the creature, he had seen that quite clearly. This creature was not some hapless beast escaped from the Bronx Zoo. It was magical.

"Artemis." He turned the entirety of his rather considerable attention to Holly. Nothing good came of _that_ tone. "Was this your plan all along?"

His lips thinned to a line. "No. Certainly not."

"You figured that the creature only attacks fairies so you would use me as _bait_."

"_Holly_," he said, taking her by the shoulders. "I would not knowingly endanger your life. Not again." She glowered at him. "I realize after what happened last time I'm hardly in a position to ask for your trust–"

"Trust?" Holly snorted. "After–"

She was interrupted by the sound of Butler barking an oath that could have curdled milk. Artemis looked up in time to see a dark shape in the road as Butler spun the steering wheel, trying to veer out of its path. But it was too late, they were too close.

Both Artemis and Holly had been too preoccupied to bother worrying about trivialities such as seatbelts and were hurtled against the seats in front of them, fortunate to not be propelled through the windshield.

The scream of metal and flesh assaulted Artemis's ears. And then nothing.

He lay in a daze, his mind only superficially aware, noting the grating pain somewhere to his right, and the horrid pounding of his pulse in his temples. It was the sound of his name that, after some moments, pierced the haze.

"Artemis... Artemis."

He opened his eyes to find Holly peering at him, blue sparks dancing over a gash in her cheek. She lay her hands on him whispering, "Heal." It was with relief that he felt the now familiar rush of magic shock through him. The sharp pain in his arm was washed away by the electric feel of Holly's magic. His teeth chattered as it rocked through him, bone melding and making itself whole once more.

As the magic washed out of him, he drew in a deep breath and released it. "Thank you, Holly." A deep, rolling groan, almost a growl, sent his heart into his throat. "Butler!"

The front of the car was demolished, the steering wheel forced into the cabin, and it was immediately obvious to Artemis that Butler– for whom run of the mill cars were not ideally sized anyway – was pinned in his seat. It was a small mercy in this case that the air bag hadn't released.

Artemis scrambled to right himself and take a good look at Butler. "I'm all right," Butler assured him. "More or less. Broken leg I think. Maybe a rib."

There was a sound from outside, somewhere in the dark, and not that of a passing car.

Holly's hand was already digging out her weapon. "What did we hit?"

"It was that creature again." He gripped the broken steering wheel and tried to pry himself loose. It creaked and groaned but didn't budge more than a centimetre and Butler was left panting raggedly for breath.

"There might be more than one," Artemis suggested. "For now we need to get you out of here."

"No."

"Butler–"

But Butler was hearing none of it. "You're not safe in here."

Holly shook her head. "It's me it's after. I'll lure it away."

"Holly, wait," Artemis said, snagging her arm. "It may be after me as well."

"What?"

"There's a chance it can sense the residual magic in me. _That_ was my plan. To use myself – not you – as bait."

Before Holly could snap at him about the consequences his schemes tended to have on those close to him, a gurgling roar rose out of the darkness. "D'Arvit! How did it survive something like that? Even a troll wouldn't have gotten up so fast."

"It has healing magic," Artemis replied. Holly stared.

"Holly," Butler said, "take Artemis and get out of here."

"What about you?"

"It's not interested in humans, remember? My phone's still working," he added, pulling the undamaged cell phone from his pocket. "A rescue crew will have me out of here before long. Go on."

She bit her lip, but finally nodded. First, though, she leaned forward and placed her hands on Butler's arm. "Heal," she breathed. Blue sparks sank into Butler's pores, jetting through him to mend broken bone and tissue. He shuddered once and then sighed with relief. "Thank you, Holly. Now go on. And take care of Artemis."

"Of course."

She paused to up the setting on her blaster to "well done" and then turned her attention to Artemis. "We need to get out from your side. I'll go first. Don't follow me until I tell you to."

She crawled past him and gripped the door handle. One deep breath and then she swung it open and leaped into the darkness.

Artemis strained to listen, waiting for her signal. What he heard instead was "D'Arvit!"

**ooo**

Captain Holly Short had seen many things during her time as a LEPrecon officer – murderous goblins and trolls (not that there was any other sort of troll), mad pixies, demon hoards – most of them generally hostile and generally trying to kill her, but what she was seeing tonight, managed to surprise even her.

"D'Arvit!" A graft. Her mind reeled. What she was seeing should not be. It had been outlawed for centuries and normally required the labour of an entire team of warlocks.

About seven metres away, a hulking form in a dark pool. Blood, she realized numbly. Its own blood. An aura of blue magic fizzed and crackled around the creature, lighting up its features in the darkness. Its body was that of an African lion, but protruding from the roof of its open mouth was a pair of delicate-looking curved fangs, pulsing blue in the light of the magic. A long, scaled tail jerked spasmodically behind it, slapping the bloodied pavement with a spatter. Its eyes shone a pinkish red.

One hand holding her blaster out in the direction of the wounded creature, she used her other to dig out her communicator. She might not have had her helmet and its communications equipment, but she was not fool enough to leave everything behind.

"Foaly, do you read? We have an emergency situation here."

"Holly, is that you? I'm not getting any readings from your helmet."

"It's still in lockup. We–"

"We're about to lose you, Holly. We've got flares in fifteen seconds."

"We need a fully armed retrieval team up here. There's– D'Arvit!" It was on its feet now and staggering towards her. How much damage could one creature take?

She heard her the crackle of static as the flare drowned out communications. It was time to move. She fired once, hitting the creature squarely in the chest and bringing it down to the pavement again. Blue magic flared like a burst of fireworks. "Artemis!" she called over her shoulder. "Move!"

He stumbled out of the car behind her, faltering as his eyes fell on the prone beast. "I said, _move_," she snapped, snagging his jacket sleeve and dragging him along.

There were woods on either side of the road. She picked the side furthest from the creature and dived into the gloom. Traditionally nocturnal creatures, fairies had keener night vision than humans, enough to navigate tolerably well in dark places, though nothing like that of night predators such as owls... or lions.

Tugging Artemis along all the way, Holly dashed through the woods. It was clearly a park for there was none of the wild undergrowth you'd have found in a natural forest. The debris of the seasons had been largely cleared and she was able to run freely, twining her way between the tree trunks without much fear of catching her foot. They raced until Artemis was gasping for breath and she was confident they'd put some distance between themselves and the creature.

They came to a halt by a stately oak. Back pressed against its wide trunk, Holly took some reassurance from its stolid frame. She had lived as long as it had stood in this place and she would live longer still.

While Artemis struggled for breath, she checked her locator, trying to get a fix on their position and then tried Police Plaza again on her communicator. "Foaly, do you read?"

"I read you, Holly. You all right? Your vitals were all over the place a minute ago."

"Never mind that. We need retrieval here. Yesterday. There's a graft up here. At least one. Maybe more."

Foaly whinnied indignantly. "A graft? You can't be serious. That's been outlawed since before the Mud People figured out the world was round."

"Would someone... care to... explain?" Artemis managed between breaths.

"Is that Mud Boy?" Foaly said over the line.

"Yes. I've got Artemis with me. The creature tracks magic. It may be after him too."

"Sit tight, Holly. I'm getting the commander on the line now."

Holly winced as the sound of alarms blared through her com line into her ear. "Foaly what's happening?"

"What in Frond's name is tha–"

And then the line went dead.


	3. Three: Cat and Mouse

**Three: Cat and Mouse**

Holly tried several more times to restore communications with Haven but there was nothing. Artemis waited, more or less patiently for her to finish before speaking. "Well?"

"I don't know. Something's happened. No signal at all on any channel. It's as if Haven were in lockdown." She shook her head and checked her locator. "We need to keep moving. We can't stay here."

"South then,"Artemis said. "If we can find our way back to the main paths it should be a simple matter to follow them to one of the park's exits onto Broadway. I doubt the creature would venture into downtown Manhattan."

"I'm not thrilled about it myself," Holly muttered.

"It won't be for long."

Gripping her blaster, eyes scanning their environs, Holly began to walk southward, picking her way through the woods in the wan light of the rising moon.

Artemis hurried to follow. "Now about this 'graft' you mentioned."

"Oh no. You first. I want to know what your scheme was, Artemis."

"Hardly a scheme," Artemis said, bristling. "A simple stakeout. Earlier today Butler and I visited the more southeastern sections of the Fort Tryon Park where most of the sightings have been and decided upon sites that could be used for surveillance. I had hoped the creature might sense the residual magic about me and be drawn to our location, making our task that much easier."

Holly cocked an eyebrow. "That's it? You just wanted to get a look at it?"

Artemis shrugged. "Butler was to have a stun rifle. I had to hoped to be able to examine the creature while it was unconscious and then place a tracer on it."

"I don't think tranquillizer darts will have much effect. My blaster barely scratched it." She shook her head. "The toll that kind of rapid healing would take on the body is unimaginable."

They had wandered into a more densely forested section of the park but the downhill slant of the terrain was encouraging as he recalled that way to the Cloisters was all uphill. They were certainly on the right path, it was just a matter of returning to the park trails. A few paces ahead, Holly hopped nimbly over a fallen tree. She glanced over her shoulder and rolled her eyes as he clambered over it with considerably less grace.

"I might be of more help in postulating theories if I had more information," he ventured, puffing for breath, as he caught up to her. Lips thinned to a line, she darted a glance in his direction but said nothing. "Please, Holly. It's important"

"You saw the creature. I'm sure you can guess what a graft is."

"A magical grafting together of different species."

Holly nodded. "It hasn't been practiced for centuries. It was banned long before cloning was, but there was a time in the People's history when our warlocks experimented with the procedure, mainly for medical purposes. But some of them got carried away."

"Interesting," Artemis murmured. It was interesting enough that he almost forgot about the burning on the back of his left heel where a blister was beginning to rise as his loafer rubbed with every step. He had not planned to go hiking when he had chosen his outfit this morning. "So the legends about gryphons, manticores, and other chimaerical beasts must have been inspired by these grafts."

"It's not surprising. Things got out of hand: experiments got loose, ran amok, ate Mud People – that sort of thing."

Something rustled up on a ridge to their right and Holly froze, blaster raised. Artemis found himself holding his breath but after a moment she relaxed and began walking once more.

"What was involved in creating these grafts?" Artemis probed. He needed more information. There still wasn't enough to draw any useful conclusions.

"It normally required several warlocks, four at the least, and the..." Holly grimaced. "Test subjects." She snorted. "The entire procedure was barbaric, almost as bad as what Mud People do now to test their cosmetic products."

Artemis drew himself up. "Many of us opt for products that have _not_ been tested on animals."

"The procedure," Holly went on, "was very complex. It involved removing parts from one creature and magically grafting them onto another. It's much more difficult than a healing."

"Of course," Artemis said. "It would require the creation of new neural pathways and connections throughout the nervous and vascular systems. It's astounding that it's possible at all."

Holly paused to glower at him over his shoulder. "Try not to sound so impressed. It was a despicable practice."

"And only a step further than the procedures Opal was carrying out beneath the Extinctionists' headquarters."

Holly shook her head. "Even Opal would have trouble setting up something like this all on her own."

"Perhaps she had help," Artemis said with a shrug.

"Who would help Opal Koboi?" Holly shot back. "And why?"

"Now those are excellent questions." To which he had no answer. At least not at present.

**ooo**

The waning moon was a fat crescent overhead when they paused to rest at the top of a slope, at the bottom of which one of the park trails slithered, silver in the moonbeams. A cast iron lamppost stood like a lone sentinel at a bend in the path, the surroundings only appearing darker for the drab circle of illumination. At some distance away, she glimpsed a structure of some sort atop a rocky outcrop – a stone gazebo perhaps.

"Still nothing from Haven," Holly muttered. She didn't like it. Not one bit. Something exceptional had to happen for communications to be down for hours at a time. And here she was stuck in the middle of nowhere with no helmet, no wings, and no help aside from Artemis, and he was less than an asset when it came to outdoor trekking.

"I have reception on my cell phone, but I'm afraid Butler isn't picking up. He must still be dealing with the fallout from the accident."

He had actually stooped to setting himself down on a large rock, a testament to his fatigue, she supposed. As she darted a glance in his direction, she saw him slip off one of his shoes and wince. For a moment she was tempted to pretend she hadn't noticed, but she chided herself. Artemis had made mistakes, stupendous, gargantuan mistakes in fact (because gods forbid Artemis do anything on a small scale), but he was still her friend and his suffering would not erase the pang she felt when she thought of the lie he'd fed her. And of how easily she had believed it.

"How are you holding up?" she asked him.

"Well enough, aside from some regrets about my choice in footwear."

"Let me," she offered. After all, if they needed to run for their lives again, it was best he be in top shape – or what qualified as top shape for Artemis Fowl anyway. She lay her hand on his ankle. "Heal," she whispered and a few sparks cascaded from her hand, down his ankle to his blistered heel.

"Thank you, Holly." He caught her eye and for a moment she found herself meeting that mismatched gaze that was twin to her own. She looked away again before a rising swell of emotion could get a hold of her. This was not the time to get caught up in unfinished business.

She covered her momentary discomfiture by verifying their position on her locator. When she glanced back up, Artemis was still fixing her with his gaze. "Yes?" she said, more curtly than was really fair, she knew.

"I never intended to use you as bait, not without discussing the matter with you."

"All right."

"I realize that I've earned your distrust, Holly, but you must know that I would not toy with your life."

_Only with my emotions._

Her brow crinkled and she busied herself with checking the setting on her weapon. She hated that he had not trusted her enough to tell her the truth about his mother, that he had felt the need to emotionally blackmail her in order to secure her help. What she hated even more was that she wasn't certain whether or not that had been the right decision.

"I know that, Artemis," she said softly. She offered him a smile – a bit frayed at the edges, but the best she could muster at present. "We should keep moving."

Standing, Holly took a deep breath of the cool, autumn air. The moon above sang to her with the echoes of its magic, a week past its prime, but still enough to send a thrill through her elfin blood. How humans could enclose themselves in their steel and concrete cities, with air that tasted of noxious fumes and lights that drowned out the stars, she would never understand. Perhaps the Mud People would feel differently if they were forced to live out their entire lives in the hollowed out core of the earth where there was neither rain, nor sun, nor moon, nor breeze.

They made their way down the slope towards the silvered pavement of the pedestrian path below. Several times Artemis had to pause and grab at a sapling or rocky outcrop to steady himself. Holly supposed Armani loafers did not provide very good traction. She'd kept her boots.

Artemis straightened in an attempt at dignity as he finally caught up with her, but the effect was ruined by the sprig of elm caught in one of the buttonholes of his jacket. She couldn't repress a grin as she reached out and plucked it from his clothes. "Not one for the great outdoors, Artemis?"

"I appreciate the wonders of the natural world. I just prefer a less immediate vantage point."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Geniuses," she muttered. "Or should I say 'genii'?" she added with a sniff.

Artemis titled his head. "'Geniuses' is a perfectly acceptable pluralization. The Latinate plural form isn't necessary. I'm curious... I was under the impression that the gift of tongues gave you an absolute command of the language. Why would you second guess?"

Her brow was crinkled as she replied. "Miss Paradizo corrected me during our run-in with her last y– four years ago."

Artemis nodded. "I see. An affectation on her part, I'm afraid."

Holly snorted. "Like I said, _geniuses_."

"Surely we're not all bad," Artemis commented, his tone more glib than she was accustomed to.

She tried not to smile, but the very fact that he could take things lightly, so unlike the boy who'd abducted her or the one who'd had them trekking through the arctic in search of his father, pleased her. "Not _all_. I'd say sixty to seventy percent, depending on the day."

He arched an eyebrow and was about to respond when she raised a hand, palm open, for silence. Something had set the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.

"Holly?"

"Run," she said, raising her Neutrino 4500. "I'll catch up."

She was relieved that he had the good sense not to press her and instead sprinted forward down the path. Her pulse thrummed in her ears. Four beats and then she could see it bounding down the slope towards her, its fur a burnished bronze in the moonlight. When she caught sight of the dark splotch on its flanks she knew it was same creature that had come after them earlier.

Sweat prickled her brow even in the cool night air as she waited to have a clear shot.

One blast from her weapon struck the creature full in the chest. It stumbled and slumped, but immediately its body was enveloped by a halo of magic, the dark blue of ocean waves on a moonless night. Holly shoved her weapon into the pocket of her trousers and ran to catch up with Artemis before the beast could get back to its feet. It shouldn't be able to sustain that level of healing; it wasn't possible, not without permanent damage to the body.

"Artemis, we need to find cover," she announced as she drew up alongside him. His chest was heaving. She pointed up towards the gazebo on the ridge above. "Up there."

"There's a path up," Artemis panted. "About half a... kilometre... ahead."

"Forget the path, Mud Boy, and climb," she said, snagging his arm. His eyes widened as he looked up at the craggy overhang. She squeezed his shoulder. "The train was worse than this. Use the foliage where you can and be careful of your footing in those shoes." He nodded. "Now start climbing. I'll wait till I'm sure we're clear."

Artemis wasted no more breath on a reply but set himself to climbing up the side of the incline. Holly's ears quivered at the sound of his feet scrabbling on the stone and the rustling of the saplings and vines as he displaced them. Heart thudding in her chest, she waited, weapon drawn, eyes staring into the gloom ahead. Alone, this would all have been simpler. Protecting herself was an easier task than protecting him.

A sapphire haze against the darkness was visible before anything else. Holly blinked once and then she could see the beast loping down the path. She opened fire. It bounded away into the brush along one side of the path.

"D'Arvit!"

Grating her teeth as Artemis's climbing continued to make an abominable racket, Holly scanned the environs. Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed a lighter shade amidst the darkness and swivelled her weapon, firing off several shots. One must have connected for she heard a low rumble from the brush and, for an instant, a flare of magic lit up the night like fireworks. There was no way a living being could sustain such a strong flow of magic for so long.

A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed that Artemis was almost up the rocky overhang. She pocketed her gun and scambled up behind him, making her way to the top with more speed and less noise. There was a grey brick wall at the top, supporting the area on which the gazebo had been built. Artemis waited for her there, one hand against the stonework, gulping in air.

She indicated the top of the wall with a jut of her chin "Give me a boost," she said, "and I'll pull you up." She was relieved when he managed the feat without slipping back down the precipice. From the top of the wall, she reached down and, clasping Artemis's forearm, helped him clamber over the top. From there they raced beneath the cover of the gazebo. At least now they would only have to worry about assault from one direction.

"What is this place?" Holly asked. The wide area before the gazebo was bare of vegetation and fenced in. A few logs lay in the dirt as well as a scattering of benches and picnic tables.

"Sir William's Dog Run." And then, in reply to Holly's raised eyebrow, "It's an area where dog owners are permitted to let their pets off their leashes. Butler and I had singled the area out as a promising location for the stakeout."

Holly gave an approving nod. "Cover on three sides, good visibility, and obstacles to hinder incoming attackers."

"Precisely," Artemis replied. He reached then for his cell phone and dialled. After a few moments he shook his head. "Still nothing."

"I'm sure Butler's fine," Holly assured him. "As for us..." She drew her weapon and took up position in the gazebo entrance. Artemis sat down on one of the benches, facing the gazebo's entrance.

"Tell me something, Holly. Is it normal for grafts to have healing magic?"

"No. I've never heard of a case like this."

"Interesting."

"And the way it's been using up magic... that sort of continuous healing takes its toll. It must be taking years off the creature's lifespan."

"Perhaps," Artemis suggested, "that was not of great concern to the one who created it." Holly snorted. "At least we know how it can see through shields."

Holly nodded. "I noticed that. Its eyes weren't feline. They looked like a rat's."

"And rats are one of the few species that can see a fairy even when she's shielded."

"You know, Artemis, that's not actually in the Book." When she darted a glance at him over her shoulder, he was wearing one of those smug grins of his. She turned back towards the woods to cover a smile of her own. There had been a time when she had found that grin more than a little irritating; when had that changed?

"You said the grafts had originally been created in the name of medical experimentation. Can I assume then that the warlocks who performed the operation were medical warlocks?"

"Yes, originally."

"And as far as the official record goes, Opal has no background in medicine or biology?"

"Yes. What are you getting at, Artemis?"

"I'm simply curious as to where Opal acquired her expertise in extracting animal DNA."

"Her only _known_ associates," Holly said, "are the Brill brothers and they're still locked up. Not that they had any expertise beyond petty crime."

"We know she has at least one other ally, though."

Holly resisted the urge to turn around; she wasn't going to give Artemis the satisfaction. "Well go on, Mud Boy. Impress me with your stunning deduction."

Artemis sniffed. "Did anyone even bother trying to locate the surgeon who altered Opal's ears and inserted a human pituitary gland into her skull? Not to mention the origin of said glad," he added with a note of distaste.

For a long moment, Holly was silent, her palm slick around the grip of her gun. "I don't know," she said softly. "I'd quit and wasn't privy to the followup investigation and then there was the Hybras incident..." She shook her head. "But with Ark Sool running the LEP, I doubt it," she spat. Sool's disgrace had been more than earned; her only regret was that she hadn't been there to see it.

The sound of rustling in the darkness ahead sent adrenaline racing through Holly's veins, jolting her into readiness once more. She raised her blaster and scanned the night for a flicker of magic or the blur of movement, but there was nothing.

Branches creaked overhead but the fenced enclosure remained empty. Seconds ticked away and still only the rustling of leaves and branches. But closer now, as if they were... overhead.

"Artemis, get down," Holly yelled, spinning on her heel a moment before a weight crashed onto the wood and tile roof of the gazebo. Artemis had just enough time to get his head down before the supporting timbers groaned and gave way, splitting beneath the force of impact.

Holly's expert gaze took in the scene in an instant, analysing the situation. The graft had leaped from the bows of one of the overhanging trees onto the gazebo roof. One of its hindquarters was caught in the ceiling tiles at an unnatural angle, magic flaring around the limb, while the rest of its body was sprawled along the length of a broken beam, and Artemis only a few feet out of the reach of its claws. There was blood on his face. He wasn't moving.

The creature was not so dazed that it held still. Its serpentine tail whipped towards Holly's head. She ducked away and blocked, but it caught her in the wrist. Bones snapped and her blaster went skidding across the floor.

Gripping her injured arm against her chest while her magic set about repairing shattered bones, Holly danced around the creature's form towards Artemis, ducking beneath another blind swipe from the beast's tail. From her new vantage point she could see blood in her friend's dark hair. And there, just past him, her weapon.

The graft was stirring now, trying to disentangle its injured leg and drop down onto the floor in the centre of the gazebo. Holly used its distraction to launch herself towards Artemis. She felt the claws slice the air just above her head as she rolled the last few feet beneath the creature's grasp to end up sprawled over Artemis, centimetres from her weapon. Her still-healing arm protested mightily at the manoeuvre, but she gritted her teeth and reached out for the discarded blaster. A crash behind her as the creature got loose.

Holly spun and fired.

The graft bellowed as the blast caught it in the side. Its magic, a dark blue now, almost black, enveloped it in a ghastly cocoon like a translucent funeral pall. She shot it again and then a third time. Finally, with a groan, its limbs collapsed beneath and it crashed to the floor.

She let out a sigh of relief, though she kept her eyes and her gun locked on the creature. Her heart pounded against her ribs, and beneath her, she could feel the thrum of Artemis's pulse. That heartbeat was as dear to her as her own, and after a few moments she could no longer tell the one from the other.

"Holly," Artemis murmured.

"Shush," she said, pulling herself up. "You're concussed. We can't have you damaging that big brain of yours."

A flicker of a smile played across his lips.

Holly's attention returned to the graft as she caught movement in the corner of her eye. Magic fizzled around its body, so thick now that all she could see were the eyes, crimson through the pitch-coloured haze. It lunged forward just as her finger squeezed the trigger of her blaster, but its momentum carried it forward, knocking her flat and the weapon's blast vanished into the maelstrom of magic swirling around the graft's body. Pain seared her right hand and then the weight of the beast crashing overtop her chest forced the air from her lungs. The microfilaments in her suit absorbed most of the impact, but she felt something give. She willed herself to hang on to consciousness and look up at the creature. The magic had drained away and she saw the light disappear from those pink-red eyes.

Before her vision went dark, Holly groped for Artemis's prone form and when she felt the fabric of his jacket beneath her fingers, she willed her magic to heal his wounds... and then let herself go under.


	4. Four: Worse to Worst

**Four: Worse to Worst**

"What kind of animal was it, Mr. Arnott?" asked the officer.

"It was something like a bear. Since when do we have bears in these parts?" Normally it was a simple matter for Butler to pull off the Brooklyn accent he affected when he took on the role of Franklin Arnott, but tonight it was requiring all his concentration to stay focussed enough to answer the officer's questions without slipping out of character. Somewhere out there that monster was after Artemis. He needed to get out of here, get a car, and get his charge to safety.

"A bear, huh?" mumbled the officer, brows creased.

Butler shrugged. "I didn't get a good look, but it was too big for a deer."

There was no body in the road, but there was a pool of blood on the pavement and animal tracks too smudged to be clearly identified. These would puzzle the police department to no end.

Butler was seated in the back of an ambulance while a paramedic poked and prodded him, shining a light in his pupils, checking his vitals, and otherwise delaying him from getting back to Artemis. The emergency crew had had to slice open the chassis of the car to free him and they'd been shocked to find him apparently unscathed. He was, of course, not about to tell them that a fairy had healed his wounds. "You're all clear," the paramedic announced finally.

"Thanks," Butler replied.

The paramedic shook his head. "Never seen anything like it. You must've had an angel watching over you tonight."

"Yeah," Butler agreed, "I think I did." And it wasn't far from the truth. As he glanced back towards the wooded outskirts of Fort Tryon Park, he only hoped she could watch over Artemis as well.

**ooo**

Foaly nibbled at his carrot, teeth nipping with nervous energy as he waited for the flares to die down enough for him to get a signal from Holly. When an officer in the field left off with the words 'We need a fully armed retrieval team up here,' you knew something bad was up. And when the officer was Holly Short, it probably meant something doubly bad.

His thick, oblong teeth almost bit into his tongue when someone knocked on the ops booth security glass. Against his better judgment, he buzzed the visitor in.

"Technically low-level consultants aren't authorized to be in this part of Police Plaza," Foaly informed the dwarf. "Did you tunnel your way in?"

Mulch smirked. "Course not. I keep everything on the level these days, you know that, pony boy." Foaly only snorted. "I'll have you know that the nice officer outside let me."

"What officer?"

"Oh let me see," he said, reaching into his trousers and pulling out something that looked suspiciously like an LEP badge. "Oh yes, Corporal Kelp. That's the one."

Foaly whinnied. "Give me that, Mulch," he said, snatching the badge. "On the level, my tail. Couldn't resist picking Grub's pockets?"

Mulch flashed a smile with his tombstone teeth and winked. "He dropped it. I meant to return it of course, but he'd already gone off on his way. Figured you could take care of it from here."

"Mulch, I'm a bit busy right now with _real_ work so why don't you just–" What Mulch should just do with himself, he never found out for Foaly's attention was suddenly rivetted by the readouts on his monitors. He downed the remains of his carrot in one bite and began clacking at his keyboard.

"Something up?" Mulch asked, craning his neck to get a look at Foaly's displays. But Foaly didn't reply and that in itself was worrisome.

For several more minutes Foaly concentrated in his readouts, muttering under his breath, the unauthorized dwarf next to him all but forgotten. He shot up in his seat when a signal finally came through.

"Foaly, do you read?"

"I read you, Holly. You all right? Your vitals were all over the place a minute ago," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. Well at least she was still in one piece.

"Never mind that. We need Retrieval here. Yesterday. There's a graft up here. At least one. Maybe more."

Foaly whinnied. "A graft? You can't be serious. That's been outlawed since before the Mud People figured out the world was round."

And then another voice, faint, but discernable. "Would someone... care to... explain?" A familiar voice.

"Is that Mud Boy?" Foaly asked.

Mulch resisted the sudden urge to hum. For the past several months whenever he saw Holly an old song, "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" began playing loops in his head. And for the life of him he couldn't figure out why.

"Yes. I've got Artemis with me. The creature tracks magic. It may be after him too."

"Sit tight, Holly. I'm getting the commander on the line now." Or he would have if every monitor in the ops booth hadn't blared to life along with what seemed to be every alarm in Haven.

"What in Frond's name is that?" No sooner had he said it than he lost Holly's signal as his state of the art communications system crashed.

Foaly swore a series of oaths that he probably wouldn't have uttered had it been Caballine rather than Mulch with him in the ops booth.

"Something bad?" Mulch ventured.

"Brilliant deduction," Foaly grumbled as his fingers danced over his keyboards rebooting Police Plaza's entire com system. "It's as if everyone in Haven City just dialled nine zero nine."

Nine zero nine was the universal number for emergency services in Haven. A full staff of trained dispatchers manned the lines at all times, though it was unusual for more than a couple to be busy at any one time– at least with real work. On any given day the dispatchers spent a fair bit of their time redirecting calls to the appropriate sources and explaining that no, being lost in the south quarter did not constitute an emergency and the call should be directed to the Haven City tourism agency; or that a cluster of swear toads perched on one's front doorstep was probably best handled by city services rather than by a fully armed squad of LEP officers.

As the system returned to life, Foaly switched a viewscreen to Network News. His eyes were greeted by an image of a downtown Haven street through which was running a small mob of terrified citizens. The image panned to the left and zoomed in on...

"What under the earth is _that_?" Mulch said.

A creature with leonine features, red eyes, and a serpentine tail loped across the pavement, curved fangs bared.

"A graft," Foaly murmured. "Gods..."

The screen switched to a reporter safely ensconced in a studio. "That's live footage from downtown Haven City where minutes ago several creatures began a terrifying attack on citizens. We have conflicting reports about how many creatures are on the loose and what the LEP are doing to stop them. Casualties are–"

Foaly switched the screen to mute and opened a line to the commander's office. Trouble Kelp looked pale and his brow was crinkled into an uncharacteristically deep scowl. "Commander, I've got com systems up and running again. They crashed under the load of calls."

"Good. Will they be stable? We need to coordinate a sweep of the city and provide cover for medical warlocks. If communications are going to be spotty I need to know now."

"Should be all right, commander. I've got internal communications routed through a separate server now. The outside lines may go in and out but LEP communications will be fine."

"I'm going to gather everyone who's not already out there in the conference room in fifteen minutes. I want all the intel you can give me by then. And I'm ordering Haven under full lockdown. And get Atlantis on the line. We're going to need backup."

"Right. Will do, commander." And then he added, "What about Holly? She ran into one of those creatures up in New York. She requested a full Retrieval team."

"We need all personnel in Haven right now." He took a deep breath. "Holly's on her own."

No, actually, she's not, thought Foaly. He wasn't certain whether the realization was more comforting or distressing.

**ooo**

At first, Holly thought the ringing was in her ears. It was a full minute before she realized she was hearing the ringtone of a cellular phone. Her chest felt tight. It was hard to breathe. Groaning, she cracked open one eye, only to find herself pinned beneath the hulking mass of the graft's body. Taking a tentative breath, she found that her ribs and lungs were intact – or healed anyway – so it was just the weight that was causing her difficulty. Yet her right hand pulsed with pain.

The sight that greeted her eyes when she titled her head to look was disconcerting. With its final lunge, the creature had caught her hand in its teeth and her palm remained impaled on one of the curved front fangs. Blood oozed around the wound.

"D'Arvit," she muttered. Well at least the ringing had stopped.

She titled her head to the left. Her hand still rested on Artemis's arm. He looked pale... but no more than usual. "Artemis," she called. "Artemis, wake up," she said giving his arm a shake. "I could use some help here."

He groaned and his eyes flickered open. He blinked several times before easing himself into a sitting position. "Artemis," she said again.

"Holly."

She smiled as he looked her in the eye. "Well you seem to be all healed up at least. Could you help me lift its head? If the great Artemis Fowl will stoop to manual labour that is."

"I'll make an exception for you," he said, though his expression was sober as his eyes swept over her injury.

"All right," she said, taking a deep breath. "On three, you pull the head up and I'll get myself free." He nodded and got a hold of the beast's head, digging his hands into its matted mane. She steeled herself. "One, two, thr–" She had to grit her teeth as Artemis yanked back, lifting the creature's head and she felt the fang slide out of her hand. Ignoring the burning in her palm, she reach up and helped push the weight of the creature off her body enough so that she could slide out from under it.

The effort left them both panting for breath and, not for the first time, Holly found herself wishing Butler were here with them like in the old days. Stumbling back a few paces, she took a good look at the graft. It didn't seem nearly as fearsome now, just a poor, slain creature, lying in the rubble of the rooftop.

It took her a moment to realize Artemis was speaking to her. "Hmm?"

"I asked if you were all right?"

She shook herself. "I don't much care for killing things."

"I'm not sure that you did. I think the strain of its magic was likely to blame more than your blaster. Now about your hand..."

Glancing down, she could see blood was still oozing out of the puncture in her palm in spite of the blue sparks dancing over the wound. "I may be low on magic after healing you and Butler. Give me a second."

Artemis's eyes flicked to her hand and his brow creased. For a moment, he seemed about to speak but then, instead, he knelt to inspect the creature, carefully tilting open its jaws so that the upper fangs were visible.

"These fangs looked to have been grafted on from some sort of viper. How well does fairy magic handle envenomation?"

"It shouldn't be a problem."

"Do you have a light, Holly?" She reached into her trousers to get at the utility belt of her Shimmer Suit and unclipped a tiny flashlight. Taking it, Artemis bent down lower to peer into the creature's mouth. "Peculiar," he said after a minute.

"What?" Holly asked, though she was certain he was going to tell her whether she appeared interested or not. Sparks were still playing over her hand, but the burning sensation had not abated, nor had the wound sealed itself. The sensation was familiar. It felt almost like...

"Typically, venomous snakes possess venom glands on each side of the upper jaw, but it appears that venom sacs have been grafted into the creature's mouth instead." He tilted further, reaching his hand into the beast's maw and shining the light into it. "It looks as if something was injected into these sacs by means of a syringe. There's a puncture mark on each sac," he added, pointing, but Holly's attention was fixed on her palm and the sparking magic there. It couldn't be...

Artemis continued to inspect the graft. He reached into his pocket to retrieved a handkerchief. Pressing one of the venom sacs so that fluid oozed from the hollow fang, he used the handkerchief to wipe down the fang – the one that didn't have blood on it. He made a careful study of the fluid, shining the flashlight on the handkerchief and sniffing it. "It seems inert," he commented. "No colouring, no scent. It's as it if it's–"

"Holy water," she said. And when Artemis looked up, she was pale in the darkness.


	5. Five: Nuit Blanche

**Five: Nuit Blanche**

"Holy water?" Artemis repeated, his blood running cold at the words. "Are you certain?"

She sighed. "Years ago, when I was tracking a rogue sprite, the blighter took cover in a church and tipped over a font full of holy water. I had my suit so I was fine but he managed to splash himself. I had to pull off my gloves to apply first aid and I could feel it burn." She took a deep breath. "So yes, Artemis, I'm certain."

Her resolve seemed to falter as she looked down again at her hand and then to the blood pooling on the floor around her boots.

Artemis's mind began to spin. This was like any problem: it simply had to be analysed and dealt with accordingly, and coming up with solutions was his forte. "First of all," he said, careful to exude calm and confidence as he spoke, "we must treat that wound before you lose any more blood."

Holly nodded. The fact that she didn't snap at him that she was a field officer and knew such basic procedures troubled him more than the wound itself. He cast his eyes about for something to use, hoping he wouldn't have to strip off his shirt, which would be both melodramatic and embarrassing – not to mention cold at this time of year.

"Use this," Holly growled, peeling off the yellow pokemon shirt and throwing it to him. "If I'm going to die a slow, painful death, it's not going to be in this thing." She shook her head. "If I'd had my armoured gloves on this wouldn't have happened." She took out her frustration on the trousers, tearing them off and tossing them to one side so that she stood again her Shimmer Suit.

Instead of replying, Artemis took the shirt and tugged at the fabric, trying to tear it into strips small enough to be useful as makeshift bandages, but the material was proving resistant. It looked easier in movies.

Holly rolled her eyes. "Give me that," she said, snatching the shirt. Artemis felt the blood run into his face as he heard the material tear. He had the hands of a pianist. He really wasn't cut out for these sorts of things. "Do you know what you're doing?" she asked rather testily as she handed the yellow strips of material back to him.

"Binding a simple gash does not require a medical degree, Holly, though I'll have you know I do have extensive medical training."

"All theoretical of course."

"That's beside the point. I'm not about to perform surgery. Now would you please _sit down_."

Apparently, forceful was the way to play it this time, for Holly finally gave in and eased herself onto the floor of the gazebo, her eyes lingering on the corpse of the graft. With great care, Artemis took her hand and began binding the wound with the strips of yellow fabric, trying not to notice the tightness of her jaw as she stared ahead.

"Your phone was ringing earlier," she said.

"Butler, I imagine. I'll call him as soon as I'm through."

"I need to try to contact Haven again."

Artemis was relieved to see the bleeding slow as he wrapped the wound. At least there had been no serious arterial damage, but if the graft's venom – for holy water was as good as poison to a fairy – had been sliding into the wound all the while she'd been unconscious then bleeding might have been preferable: it would have washed some of it out of the wound rather than allowing it to be absorbed into her bloodstream.

"The effect holy water has on a fairy..." he began, keeping his eyes on her hand. He needed to remain clinical, detached; he didn't think he could do that just now if he looked her in the eye. "It works much like an allergy, correct?"

"Yes. The magic in the water conflicts with our own magic. The body's immune system attacks it and ends up turning against itself."

"The graft," Artemis said, glancing over his shoulder, "was created with the sole intention of killing fairies."

"Are you done? I need to try to call in."

"Yes. I'm done." She moved to raise her injured hand, but he caught her arm. "Keep the limb below the level of your heart in order to slow the spread of the venom into your bloodstream. And stay seated. Excess exertion will only speed up the process."

She glowered at him, but didn't move further and used her left hand to reach for her communicator. Artemis flipped open his phone and made the call.

"Artemis!"

"Butler, it's good to hear you voice."

"I've been trying to reach you. Are you all right?"

"I am," he said, "But Holly is not." It required some effort to keep his tone even. "We're at the first stakeout location. How quickly can you be here?"

"It depends. Will a cab do?"

Artemis glanced over his shoulder at Holly. Her features were drawn and he could see flares of magic sparking ineffectually around her hand. In her condition it would be impossible for her to remain shielded for any length of time, and even with a disguise, two men and what appeared to be a child emerging from the park at this hour would raise too many suspicions. "I'm afraid not."

"It'll take me a few hours to get a car and get back there."

"We can hold out until then." He turned his back to Holly and spoke in a low tone. "But I think you'll need to meet us here. I'm not sure what state Holly will be in by then and the odds of my being able to carry her any distance are slim."

"What happened, Artemis?"

"Holy water."

Butler said nothing. He had accompanied Artemis on their first venture into the fairy realms when they had sought out a sprite in Ho Chi Minh City several years ago; he understood what holy water meant to a fairy. "I'll be there as soon as I can."

"We'll be waiting."

When he turned back to Holly, he knew by the look on her face that she'd had no luck reaching Foaly. "Still nothing?"

"I got an automated message – in Lily Frond's voice no less – advising me that Haven is in lockdown and I should address any queries to the nearest fairy fort." She shook her head. "Even if I could get in touch with Police Plaza, with the city in lockdown I wouldn't be able to get to a medical warlock."

"So we're on our own then," he said. "As usual."

A smiled quirked her lips. "As usual."

"We shall have to seek out an alternative treatment," Artemis announced. He sat down crossed-legged on the floor, his back to the graft's corpse. "What I need now is information. Do fairy forts have medical supplies? Perhaps spring water from a fairy well?"

"Do your first aids kits normally include anti-venom for snake bites?" Holly shook her head. "Holy water poisoning has to be treated in Haven City or Atlantis. It's not common enough for most forts to stock antidotes."

"All right. Then option number two. Where is the closest fairy well? I know there's one at Tara, but that will be rather a long flight and the sooner we get the water into your bloodstream the better."

She peered at him, brow creased, her hazel and blue eyes pinning him like an insect beneath a microscope. "You know quite a bit about this, Artemis."

He waved away her comment. "I've been studying your people for over three years, Holly. Now, where can we find a well?"

She thought on this for a moment before saying, "Tennessee. No wait, that one was closed down after chemicals seeped into the soil." She muttered something in Gnommish that Artemis chose to ignore. "Kentucky."

"Where precisely?"

"There's a cavern system there. It used to be busy tourist resort several centuries ago but it was shut down due to human incursions into the caves. I think it's a human park now."

"You must mean Mammoth Cave National Park. So there is a fairy well in the cave system, is that correct?"

"Yes, but the passageway to it was closed to the public ages ago. There's also a chute that's been sealed off – E108. I think I'd heard about a troll infestation in the area, though."

"One problem at a time," Artemis said, repressing a grimace. He'd had enough of trolls to last him several lifetimes. "Butler is on his way. We'll head to the airport and then take the jet to Kentucky and locate the curative waters you require."

"We can't leave that lying around," she said, indicating the graft's body with a jut of her chin. She fiddled with something on her belt and finally pulled out a small chip. "It's an incendiary device," she supplied. "We can't have the Mud People seeing a monster when they get here in the morning."

Artemis' heart skipped a beat as he noticed the way Holly's frame wavered slightly as she got to her feet. The holy water was taking hold of her system more quickly than he'd hoped. The sprite in Ho Chi Minh City had accepted his deal quickly enough that he'd not observed any symptoms of the poisoning. Now he would get to see the effects firsthand. The irony was almost too much to bear.

Artemis backed away several feet as she placed the device on the creature's body. "Shield your eyes," she warned. He did. A few seconds later, a blinding flash lit up the night. When he looked again, there was nothing but ashes where the graft's body had lain.

"And now we wait for Butler."

"There's no need to wait. I can still walk," Holly snapped, crossing her arms over her chest and scowling at him. But sweat was already beading her brow.

"As I said, exertion will only speed the process. Please, Holly," he said, taking her by the shoulders, "you need to rest and save your strength." He held her mismatched gaze with his own, staring into that blue eye, that part of him that was now a part of her. Perhaps he had irreparably damaged their relationship, but he would not give up on that connection, he would not give her up. He could fix this.

"All right," she said, breaking the stare. She made a point of retrieving her weapon before settling herself on the floor at the back of the gazebo, beyond the debris of the caved in roof, gun pointed towards the exit – just in case. He sat down next to her and for a while they said nothing at all.

He glanced at her when she spoke. "How did you know about the caves?"

"Mammoth Cave? I researched the area when I was first attempting to track down the People. There were many unusual stories in the region about ruins discovered by early settlers, but I discounted much of it as it seemed to originate from a single account by a certain Thomas Ashe, a fellow countryman, noted for his gift of the blarney."

"You mean he was an incorrigible liar," Holly said, one eyebrow raised.

"Yes."

"Any relation?"

Artemis sniffed. "I could ask you the same: the story Ashe recounts seems to originate from 'Short Cave.' It's one of the locations in which Native American mummies were discovered, corpses naturally mummified by the dry air of the caves. One of them, discovered in another cave system, is noted as being very peculiar: it's too small to be an adult, only three feet in height, yet its features appear mature. It was named 'Little Alice'." Holly did not meet his eyes at this piece of information and he pressed on. "As I recall, it was carbon dated as being several thousand years old."

"Enough, Mud Boy," she said with a snort. "The People went belowground after the battle of Taillte ten thousand years ago in the old country, but smaller groups lived in fairy forts, and in a few cases, even continued living on the surface on this content for generations after that."

"So Little Alice was likely an elf?"

"Yes, and it wasn't until a few decades ago that a retrieval team was finally able to reclaim the body. Your people had it on display! In a carnival!"

"You can hardly hold me responsible for the actions of hucksters half a century before my birth." She only huffed in reply. "The presence of fairies also explains the numerous folk tales and rumours of a red-headed people in the region. Though many of the rumours suggest interbreeding with native populations."

He stopped himself there, all at once uncomfortably aware of Holly's slight frame only centimetres away. When he glanced at her he noticed a flush to her cheeks, but he supposed that was only fever setting in. Surely.

She glanced at the moonometre on her wrist and then, lips thinned to a line, tilted her head to look up a the sky through the hole in the roof. "We won't get there before daylight."

"No."

"Our magic is weaker in the daytime. But you know that already," she said, casting him a look, and then adding, "Our immune systems wane as well."

"Much like the human immune system at night."

"Yes."

"Are you carrying a sealed acorn?"

Her hand hovered over her breastbone. "Yes, though it won't do me any good to use it now."

"After then, once you've received the antidote."

A pause. "I don't like waiting."

Artemis offered her a sly smile. "I could attempt to carry you out of the park, but I'm not sure how far we would get."

"Oh I don't know... twenty or thirty metres maybe?" She punched him in the shoulder. "You really should get in shape one of these days. It would make these little adventures that much easier."

"I keep meaning to. Really."

"You've had three years."

"They've been a very momentous three years and I was mind-wiped for some of that time."

"Three years," she murmured. "Elves can live for centuries, you know. Three years is nothing compared to that. But these three years have been..."

_Everything._

Before he could even think to chide himself for the melodrama of that thought, he found himself lost in those mismatched eyes again.

And then she winced and gripped her right forearm as magic shuddered through the limb, attempting to heal her, but only attacking its own tissues in the process. He reached out to press a hand to her forehead and found it hot to the touch.

"You have a temperature already. You should rest."

She shook her head. "We need to keep watch. What if there's another graft loose?"

"I'll keep watch. You rest," he said.

"But–" He reached out and placed his hand over the grip of her blaster... and over the hand that gripped that blaster.

"I've fired a fairy weapon before," he assured. "If you recall, Butler and I acquired a collection of them during the manor siege."

"Firing a weapon at a shooting rage isn't the same."

"Even so..." And he squeezed her hand. "I promise I'll wake you should I see anything that's likely to try to dismember us."

"All right," she said finally, relinquishing her hold on the grip. "But no trying to dismantle it to see how it works."

He wore one of his smug smiles. "There's hardly enough light here for that in any case."

"If something tries to eat me while I'm asleep I'll make you regret it, Fowl."

"I assure you, Captain, I harbour enough guilt about our current predicament not to wish to add to it."

Her expression softened. "Don't," she said. She freed her hand so that she could squeeze his arm. "You didn't intend for me to get tangled up in this mess. I believe you, Artemis."

And then she hugged her knees and, setting her chin down on them, closed her eyes.

#

It was some time later, as he sat on the floor of the gazebo, staring into the darkness, fairy blaster gripped in his palm, that he first noticed symptoms of Holly's worsening condition. Magic flickered up and down her arm at odd moments, and he could see an unnatural flush to her cheeks born of fever. A short while later she began to shiver.

For several minutes Artemis remained fixed, watching her tremble, his promise to keep guard all but forgotten. He knew what he ought to do. It was the correct and logical course of action; he only hesitated because a part of him was so eager.

With a deep breath to calm himself, Artemis shifted his position, scooting closer to Holly. And then, mustering his courage and ignoring the very real possibility that she might wake and punch him in the face for the third time in as many years, he hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her tiny frame closer to him so that her back was pressed against his chest. She stirred for a moment, but never woke. When he put a hand to her forehead, he found it clammy.

He held the blaster in one hand and kept the other wrapped around her, pressing her close while careful to avoid her injured hand. Her shivering calmed and after a while she shifted in his arms and curled closer to him, head leaning against his shoulder.

Artemis tried to review what he knew of the Mammoth Caves, their layout, and the scant information Holly had divulged, but he was finding it rather difficult to concentrate. Sometimes a word would fall from Holly's lips only to be smothered in his shirt, and he found himself wondering if it was his name she murmured – and then chiding himself for harbouring such an... _adolescent_ thought. Or sometimes, with her head tucked under his chin, he would catch the scent of her hair; it was the scent of pine, not the artificial scent of those cheap air fresheners people hung in their cars, but real pine – some sort of shampoo, he assumed. He'd never noticed it before.

"I will save you, Holly," he whispered.

And once spoken aloud, he found it much easier to shunt aside his worry and concentrate instead on what had to be done in order to keep that promise.

* * *

**A/N:** A few things just as a point of interest... For anyone who doesn't know and is curious, "nuit blanche," literally "white night" in French, means a "sleepless night." Also, I did not in fact make up Thomas Ashe, Little Alice, or Short Cave; they're all part of the odd bits of Kentucky lore I dug up during my research for this story, though I did have Artemis come to some rather creative conclusions about them. ;)


	6. Six: Book of Secrets

**Six: Book of Secrets**

It was the scent that woke Holly first, the tang of something chemical. One of the myriad products the Mud Men used, a cleaning agent perhaps. Detergent, her mind supplied as it drifted in a languid haze. Her eyelids were still too heavy to open.

_I'm lying with my face in a pile of human laundry. How strange._

There was something else, a scent she sometimes detected around the males – cologne? Deodorant? It reminded her of the time she'd been assigned to retrieve a gnome who'd taken up residence in the garden section of a Mud Man department store posing as a lawn ornament. The air filters on her helmet had been malfunctioning and when he'd led her on a merry chase through the store, even a few moments' flight through the perfume displays had been an olfactory nightmare.

But the scents were softer, less astringent, and beneath it all was something else, something that did not assault her senses, something familiar. Skin. The scent of skin. Her body still felt heavy, her eyelids leaden, so she mused over this puzzle with the unconcern of her semi-wakeful state.

Detergent, deodorant, skin. The mix was familiar. Now where had she... Oh. Oh no.

Her eyes sprang open and were greeted by an ocean of crinkled white fabric. Oh gods, why was she lying with her nose buried in Artemis's shirt?

She groaned. And why did her head ache so and her arm feel like it was on fire? It came back to her in a rush. Holy water. Death, slow and cruel, as sure as the radiation that had killed her mother.

She squeezed her eyes shut again as a jolt of magic shot down to her palm, burning all the way. It fizzled around the wound and sent a shock up the length of her arm, through her shoulder, and into her chest. Her whole body shuddered.

The arm around her waist tightened. "Butler will be here soon."

She didn't reply and pretended instead to be not quite awake. Artemis's warmth staved off the chill she felt creeping through her limbs, and her head ached less, cushioned as it was against his chest. She could hear the beating of his heart, steady and calm. It was comforting somehow.

There were worse places to be, Holly decided as she tried to drift to sleep again. Far worse places.

**ooo**

Butler ignored the heaviness in his chest where the kevlar particles below his sternum restricted his breathing. It was like jogging with a metal plate pressed against his ribs, but he kept on at a steady pace down the park's paths. He was supposed to be retired. Just a short jaunt in the woods, Artemis had said. A stakeout with a dart gun. Nothing really dangerous. He should have known better; danger tracked Artemis like a bloodhound.

When he came within sight of Sir William's Dog Run, Butler steeled himself. Several possible scenarios crossed his mind, none of them especially cheerful. As he approached the gazebo he and Artemis had agreed upon as their stakeout location, there were many things he expected.

However, what he did not expect was to see his young charge, one arm hooked protectively around the ailing elf huddled close to him, the other holding up a fairy blaster. He looked almost... heroic. A very bad habit Artemis was getting into.

"Artemis," Butler called out so as not to spook him. He didn't especially want to find out how kevlar fared against a fairy blaster.

"Butler." Relief was evident in Artemis's voice. "We need to get to the jet as quickly as possible," he said before Butler had even crossed the distance between them.

"Destination?"

"There's an airport in Louisville, Kentucky. I believe that's the closest one to where we're headed. I'll fill you in on the way."

Butler knew better than to press Artemis for details and instead knelt down to pick up Holly. "I'll take her now," he said when Artemis failed to move.

"Yes. Of course." As he unwound his arm from around Holly, an expression of such concern flitted over Artemis's face before he schooled his features, that Butler's heart went out to him. Holly stirred then and opened here eyes. For a moment she seemed dazed but then she raised her head and offered Butler a smile.

"Hello, Butler." Her voice was hoarse.

"Rough night, Captain?"

She chuckled. "You could say that."

He picked her up with great care. Holly Short was a soldier and he had long known that in spite of her slightness, she was a force to be reckoned with, but tonight she seemed little more than a doll, limp in his arms.

Artemis got to his feet, moving stiffly and wincing as something cracked when he straightened. "We need to hurry. Time is something we have in short supply at present."

Butler could not miss how Artemis's eyes lingered over the fairy. It was serious. "Let's get going then."

**ooo**

To Artemis's relief, they managed to get to the airport and smuggle Holly onto the Lear jet without incident. They had little enough time as it was without having it frittered away by airport security. Even so, the sun was rising when they were finally prepared for takeoff.

Normally, flying helped Artemis think and he relished the opportunity to command the skies, but he had decided it would be best that he remain free to monitor Holly's condition. He expected her temperature to spike with the daylight and he wanted to be there with her in case–

_No. I have saved Holly before and will do so again._

Once they had safely taken off, he headed to the back of the plane. There were bunks so that they could rest during long trips and they'd laid Holly on one of these. He found her awake, eyes fixed on the window across the aisle, which afforded an excellent view of the sky as the sun's first rays painted it with gold.

"I can pull the blind if you're bothered by the light," he offered.

She shook her head. "No, I like seeing the sky. I wish I could be out there myself."

Her face looked flushed and when he placed his hand on her forehead it was obvious that her temperature had risen dramatically in the past hour. He smothered his concern with planning. "What more can you tell me about the tunnels?"

"Not much. I think they kept the entrance open, but it would be under surveillance. Probably two officers. If I'm awake I could talk to them."

"And if not?"

"They'll likely blast first and ask questions later. You and Butler will wake up outside the cave with the past twelves hours wiped from your memories." Artemis nodded, unsurprised. "If you can reach Foaly by then he'll be able to reason with them, otherwise you'll have to come up with one of your schemes."

"Do you have any equipment I might use?'

"Iris-cam, com set, and floaters."

"Floaters?" Artemis repeated.

"Anti-gravity darts for the Neutrino. They render the target nearly weightless, like the Moonbelt."

"Useful."

She averted her eyes. "My left hip pocket."

Artemis drew back the blanket that covered her and reached out to pull back the velcro flap on her hip. Gingerly, he slid his hand into the pocket and groped for its contents. In spite of his best efforts, he could feel himself flushing as he did.

Clearing his throat, he placed the dart clip, the tiny fairy communicator, and the vial containing the iris-cam in his jacket pocket and pulled the blanket back over his ailing friend.

"Here," she said, reaching for something on her wrist. "Take my locator too. You know enough Gnommish to be able to work it and the computer should have a map of the caves stored in its database."

She held out the locator to him but nearly dropped it as a spasm of magic jolted through her. Blue sparks hissed and fizzed up and down her arm as she gritted her teeth. It lasted several secondss and left her trembling. Artemis was keenly aware of his own helplessness; he could do nothing but watch. Sweat beaded her brow when she finally opened her eyes again. "Take it," she said, handing him the device. "I don't think I'll be much good to you by the time we get there."

Artemis made a cursory examination of the locator, but its operation seemed simple enough. When he was satisfied that he was able to operate it without help, he placed it in his pocket. It was difficult to look up at Holly again, but he forced himself to do so. Indirectly though it might he, he was responsible for her condition. If she had had only herself to look after, she doubtless would have fared better.

"I'd like to perform a check of your vital signs."

A smile curled her lips. "I'm not sure I'm up to playing doctor just now, Artemis."

He marvelled at the fact that she could manage to send the blood rushing into his cheeks at a time like this.

"Checking your pulse and temperature will be sufficient for now," he said cooly, though he couldn't quite meet her eyes when he reached out to place his fingers against her throat. Her pulse leaped beneath his fingertips and he waited a good half minute before counting, just to be sure it had settled into a normal rate. "What's the baseline pulse for an adult elf?"

"A hundred-and-something per minute," she replied.

"Temperature?"

Her brow crinkled. "Ninety-nine point five."

Artemis tilted his head. "Fahrenheit?"

"No. Gnommish standard units."

"Of course." He performed a quick mental conversion. "About thirty-nine Celsius, then, two degrees higher than regular human temperature." She nodded vaguely, her eyelids drooping. "You should rest," he said, unnecessarily as it turned out. He busied himself with retrieving a facecloth from a toiletries bag stored onboard the jet and soaking it with water to use as a cold compress. He lay the wet cloth over her forehead and then sat down to wait and to plan.

**ooo**

They were an hour into the flight when Butler heard approaching steps, footfalls so familiar to him that he didn't even bother to look up from his instruments. Artemis sat down in the copilot's seat and, for several moments, proceeded to say nothing at all. When Butler glanced his way, he noted the dark smudges beneath his eyes, and the worry so clearly etched on his features.

"How is she?" Butler asked finally.

"Stable for now, but as expected her temperature is rising. I have some information regarding the caves."

"Yes?"

"I've done some research online. We'll have to go via the 'Historic Entrance', as it's termed. Unfortunately the park is open through the month of October and sees quite high volume even in the fall season. I'm afraid we shall have to wait until nightfall to smuggle Holly in." Butler nodded. If Holly were able to shield it would be another matter, but in her current condition... "The map on her locator," Artemis continued, holding up the device, "contains maps made for an LEP officer sporting wings. Since neither of us is able to fly, reconnaissance will be necessary. Fortunately, the area we need to access lies along the path of one of the tour routes. There's a manned LEP outpost within the tunnels so we may face some resistance, but we'll need to pass through in order to gain access to the fairy well." Butler nodded, taking all this in. He didn't bat an eye until Artemis came to the next part. "And there might be a troll problem after that."

"A troll problem?" Butler repeated, a little uneasily if truth be told. If anyone knew what a troll could do to the human body it was Butler.

"I'm afraid we won't know more until we're on site." Now there was something a soldier never liked to hear. Lack of intel could get you killed in the best of circumstances and this was hardly the best. But he trusted Artemis to come up with a plan as the occasion called for it. Come hell or high water they would reach that well. He had no doubts on that front.

Artemis had fallen silent once more and Butler couldn't help but notice how his gaze darted over his shoulder towards the cabin. "I'm keeping watch on Holly's vitals signs," he said, "but without a better understanding of the symbiotic relationship between fairy biology and magic, I don't dare intervene any further." He turned to look at Butler, his features drawn. "I've done what little I can for her and now I'm not quite certain what to do."

"Just hold her hand, Artemis."

Artemis's brows arched as if this were a most unorthodox suggestion, rather than the very basic form of consolation even Butler knew it to be. "Of course," Artemis murmured. "Offering comfort is the appropriate response in such situations."

"It's another two and a half hours until we're there," Butler said. "Try to get some rest. And let me know if anything changes."

"I will. Thank you, Butler."

Smiling to himself, Butler watched Artemis go. It was funny, but for a while there he'd really thought Minerva might have a chance.

**ooo**

Though her cheeks were flushed, there was a greyish tinge to Holly's normally nut-brown complexion as Artemis sat down next to her bunk. He checked her pulse and spent a minute watching the rise and fall of her chest, counting her breaths and comparing them to his earlier observations. No change.

With a deep breath and feeling supremely awkward, he reached for her left hand and held it in his. In his family his mother had always been the affectionate one while his father had remained a stiff, distant figure. The warm and open affection offered by his mother had always been something he'd appreciated but been completely unable to emulate. Holly on the other hand was always ready to embrace her friends and give them a friendly kiss on the cheek. In his place she would not have hesitated to take his hand, he was certain of it, yet even knowing this he found his palm growing uncomfortably damp around her slender fingers. He was just beginning to wonder if he should rethink this entire hand-holding notion when those fingers squeezed his own.

He raised his eyes to find Holly's open once more. "Artemis."

"Would you like some water?" She nodded and he reached for a nearby glass, complete with straw, and brought it her lips so she could take a few sips. Lifting her head enough to drink seemed to use up what energy she had and for several minutes afterward she lay in silence. Yet she kept hold of his hand all the while.

He glanced up when she did finally speak. "You know... You never did explain how you know so much about holy water."

He grimaced. "I could elaborate, but I'm not certain you would enjoy the explanation."

"Is it any worse than what happened with Jayjay?"

For a moment Artemis thought on this, weighing his youthful crimes against each other. "Not _worse_. Not precisely."

"Then tell me."

Artemis didn't like giving up his secrets. Information was a weapon and sharing it only meant levelling the playing field. And secrets were his treasure, his prizes. But because he felt guilty about the lie he'd told her about his mother's illness and because she was ill herself now and he hoped to distract her, he told her.

"Some months before we met," he began, careful to keep his tone as neutral as possible, "I managed to locate a sprite in Ho Chi Minh City, one who'd become addicted to spirits. I offered her a half pink of Irish whiskey in exchange for some information."

"Information?" Holly echoed, one eyebrow raised.

He waited before elaborating as magic rippled up and down Holly's arm and across her chest, her grip on his hand becoming vice-like while it lasted. There was no doubt now that her condition was worsening. She drew several deep breaths and then her gaze was rivetted on his face and he had no choice but to continue. He would not lie to her now, not like this. "In exchange for access to her copy of the Book."

Holly's eyes widened. "So that's how... But no fairy would willingly let a human see the Book."

"They might when they found out the whiskey they'd just consumed was laced with a generous dose of holy water."

"Oh, Artemis," Holly groaned.

"I assure you the sprite in question is alive and well, Holly, and in fact in better condition than when I found her. I offered her the antidote as well as a cure for her addiction. By now she has likely rejoined the People."

"What if she'd refused?"

"There was a plan B. It took a great deal of time and resources to track her down. I'd not have allowed her to die." It was obvious from her expression that she was nearly as horrified as when he'd admitted to having sold Jayjay to the Extinctionists. "It's not a plot I would attempt again," he offered. For a long moment he let his gaze linger over Holly's frame. For the first time he could remember, she looked frail. "It seems all my mistakes come back to haunt me. Or those most dear to me."

He felt the pressure of her fingers around his. She was looking at him, not with the distress of a few moments earlier, but with an expression that, in spite of his detailed study of psychology and body language, he found difficult to put a name to. It was as if she were searching his features... or trying to memorize them. The realization sent a chill down his spine.

"I always thought we'd have more time," she whispered, eyes locking with his.

Artemis found himself having to speak around a lump in his throat. "We will have more. Years. Decades. This is not the end, Holly. You're going to be all right. I _will_ save you."

"I know," she said, not quite convinced. But he held her gaze until a smile curled her lips. "I wonder sometimes if your family has elf blood. When you look me in the eye I'll believe almost anything. Right from the start. You probably–" She grimaced as her body was wracked with another spasm of magic, coiling around her throat so that she drew in a sharp breath. His bones ached as she clenched his hand. Her voice was hoarse when she spoke again. "You probably... don't remember."

"I remember," he said softly. "During the siege. And I was telling the truth; I did know how to escape the time stop."

She chuckled. "Yes, you were. Artemis Fowl, always full of surprises."

"I must admit, I was surprised as well."

"By what?"

"By you. You were so determined. I was your captor, your enemy, yet you were determined to save my life."

She smiled feebly. "A life is a life."

"Even mine," he said.

"Especially yours." And then she squeezed his hand once more and closed her eyes to rest.

For a long while, Artemis remained by Holly's side, her hand clasped in his.

* * *

**A/N:** I've managed to squeeze in one more update before the holidays. I'll get back to posting regularly in a few weeks when things have calmed down again. In the meantime, enjoy!


	7. Seven: All and Sundry

**A/N:** I honestly thought no one would notice if I didn't post during the holidays. Err... silly me. I normally post on Friday evenings but since that won't work (for obvious reason) I'll settle for Wednesday this week and next. So here goes...

* * *

**Seven: All and Sundry**

Neutrino 4500 in hand, Captain Stonecrop of the LEP huddled behind the battered remains of a vending stand, his two comrades more or less out of commission, one due to injury, the other due to... well, it was no secret at Police Plaza that Corporal Grub Kelp didn't exactly live up to the precedent set by his brother the commander. In fact, he kept blubbering about his mum. At a time like this!

"Is it still out there?" Grub squeaked.

Stonecrop stiffened as he heard the sound of claws clacking on pavement. "It's still out there," he replied. He ventured a look over the top of the overturned smoothie stand. The sun strips that replicated aboveground illumination had been left on in spite of the citywide lockdown and their light poured into the empty street. Nothing. He ducked back down again and waited.

The service alley they were holed up in was a dead end, but the stand provided them with some cover at least. Stonecrop's nostrils were filled with the scents of nettle and wild berries, but beyond that was the coppery tinge of blood.

The creature had managed to gets its fangs into Private Coltsfoot during the initial bout. It had come out of nowhere it seemed, leaping down from an awning and catching the private in the throat. Stonecrop had shot the graft several times, but even at its highest setting, the blaster seemed to only slow the beast down.

Coltsfoot's breathing was raspy, magic crackling ineffectually around the punctures in his neck, slowly restricting his breathing passages as his system tried to rid itself of the holy water in and around the wound. If they didn't get him to medical warlock soon it would be too late.

Stonecrop cursed as Haven's emergency comm system crackled to life, covering any sound. "Haven City is currently in lockdown. Grafts have been spotted in the city centre. If you are already indoors, remain there. Blockade any windows and doors and wait for further instructions. If you are outside, take cover immediately. Police patrols have been dispatched throughout the city and can direct you to the nearest shelter."

Pulse pounding in his ears, Stonecrop dared another glance over the top of the stand. "Back! Back! Back!" he shouted to Grub, lurching backwards as the graft pounced, its bulk crashing against the smoothie stand, claws digging in as it tried to pull itself up and over. A tail whipped around out of nowhere and his Neutrino went skidding across the pavement. "Shoot it, Corporal!" he snapped as Grub remained stunned, eyes wide, lower lip trembling.

Grub's hands shook so much that the shot went wild. A total miss. Stonecrop dived to retrieve his weapon. The feel of the blaster's still-warm grip filled him with giddy relief. He rolled and shot off a blast just as the graft leaped down into the service alley.

One shot. Two. Three. Magic flared around the creature's shape, enveloping it in sapphire light. He could see the tensing of its haunches as it prepared to pounce. In a last ditch effort, he reached for a stun grenade at his belt, tossed it beneath the creature's nose, and turned his helmeted head away. Blinding white light flashed through the service alley. There was a gurgling yowl and then a thud. When Stonecrop looked again, the graft lay in a heap, unconscious, but alive.

He took stock of his comrades. Coltsfoot's breathing wasn't good. Not good at all. Grub meanwhile was blubbering about his mum again.

"HQ this is Captain Stonecrop."

"This is Police Plaza."

"I need a medical warlock down here. We have an officer down. Critical condition. And we need a Retrieval team. We've got one of the grafts alive."

"Copy that. We'll send patrol seventeen your way. They have capture gear."

"Captain Stonecrop." Stonecrop straightened as Commander Kelp's image appeared on his visor screen.

"Yes sir."

"Report. You have one alive?"

"Yes sir. Stun grenade at close range. It seems to have finally put it out."

"Good work," Trouble said. "We have a couple of warlocks who need to take a look at the beast. What about Coltsfoot?"

"He's been bitten sir. He needs immediate treatment."

The commander's lips thinned to a line and he nodded. He switched then to a private com band. "How's Grub doing? And I'll have you acorns if you say he's doing just fine."

Stonecrop had to repress a smile. "Well, sir, he hasn't passed out."

"That's something I suppose. Good work. Backup is on the way to your position. Hold tight."

"Yes sir."

**ooo**

When the young demon No 1 had first begun his warlock training along with his teacher Qwan at Section 8 headquarters, he had been rather puzzled by the name given to the elite and secretive branch of the LEP. He had asked Commander Vinyáya if the name meant there was a Section one to seven as well, but she had advised that he not ask so many questions. That being the case he had decided it might be best not to mention the English-language association he had with the term. For some reason his linguistic repertoire suggested "Section 8" as a synonym for "crazy."

Now, for reasons that were not quite clear to him, he was being escorted by a detachment of heavily armed officers – three burly gnomes and a pair of sinewy elves – through a section of the facility he'd never been to before. As if this was not distressing enough, his horns were tingling; that usually meant something bad.

"Crazy," he murmured, trying to calm himself. "Insane. Mad. Loopy. Batty. Barmy. Bonkers. Nuts. Banan–" He broke off as the guards cast him less than friendly glances. He had never understood why others didn't seem to find lexical exploration as relaxing as he did.

They guards halted before a reinforced door. No 1 was at least somewhat reassured when it slid open and he saw Qwan waiting there in the room ahead. "Ah, No 1. Good," Qwan said. Something about the way he said "good" made No 1's horns tingle all the more.

He stepped through the doorway, followed by the armed officers who took up positions around the room, blasters pointed towards a box in the centre of the floor. No, not a box, No 1 realized... a hovercage.

"What's in the cage?" No 1 asked.

Qwan stroked his chin a moment and then replied. "A monster."

"A monster?" Surely he meant that figuratively. No 1 eyed the cage. Through the air slits in the side he glimpsed something very large and furry. And then something that looked very much like a set of claws that would have made any full-fledged demon proud. Perhaps not so figurative then.

"Don't you watch the news, boy?"

"I try not to. The news casters don't seem to like my friends very much, do they?"

Qwan could not but agree with that. Coverage of the Opal Koboi situation tended not to paint either Artemis Fowl or Holly Short in the most flattering light, nor anyone at the LEP for that matter.

"In that box is a graft with rather large fangs, a temper like a starved demon's, and more magic than an elf after the Ritual, and it can deliver a lethal dose of holy water to any fairy it bites. We need to neutralize it."

No 1 considered this a moment. "Well," he said finally, "this should be easier than quantum zombies anyway."

**ooo**

Trouble Kelp set down the latest injury report and reached for his cup of sim-coffee. The backup troops from Atlantis had arrived but the creatures were still loose in the streets and no one was quite certain of their precise numbers. So far no one had died, but there had been several civilians taken to Haven Clinic to receive treatment for holy water poisoning along with several of his officers. At least Grub was in one piece. How his younger sibling always managed to get into trouble and escape utterly unscathed every time, he could not guess.

"Commander?"

Trouble activated the viewscreen. "Yes?"

A sprite's image appeared, his green skin about three shades paler than it ought to be. "You're uh–" He broke off and cast a glance over his shoulder. "You're needed in the officer's lounge."

Trouble raised an eyebrow. "In the lounge?"

"Yes sir," squeaked the sprite, a junior communications officers, if Trouble wasn't much mistaken.

"I'm on my way," Trouble replied, deciding it would be quicker to deal with the situation in person rather than try to get a straight answer over the com channel. Before leaving he downed what remained of the sim-coffee.

The lounge was only a few halls down from his office. It was a small room but featured the ever-popular energy-drink dispenser where tired officers on double-shifts could purchase vitality in a can in any of eighteen different flavours. Trouble had already gone through the Nettle and Berberis varieties since the crisis had begun.

When he reached the door to the lounge he found the pale sprite hovering about a foot of the floor, in obvious agitation. "Commander." The sprite pointed to the door and flitted to one side.

Out of age old habit, Trouble reached to his hip, and was hit with a wave of regret when he found no weapon there. For a moment he wondered if Julius had felt this way and, if so, how long it had taken him to get used to it. And then, steeling himself, Trouble pushed open the door.

"D'Arvit!" He figured he lost about half a century off his life right there and was probably about to lose a lot more, for there, in the centre of the room, lounging on the greying beige carpet, was a graft.

'"You're perfectly safe, Commander," assured the warlock Qwan, who, Trouble just now realized, was seated in an armchair to the left of the creature. His apprentice, No 1 was standing not foot away from the beast. "They're quite docile once the holy water's been neutralized."

The graft looked up at him with beady, red eyes. Its jaw dropped open, displaying two curved fangs. For a few moments, it snuffled the air and then, apparently finding Trouble of little interest, ignored him in favour of grooming itself with utmost fastidiousness.

Trouble had to clear his throat a few time before he quite managed to speak. "You're sure it's safe?"

"Quite, Commander," Qwan assured.

"And the holy water?"

Qwan held up a vial of translucent liquid glittering with blue sparks. "This should clear it right up."

"What is it?" Trouble asked, casting sideways glances at the graft. No 1 was scratching it behind the ear and it was making a distressing sort of rumbling noise yet neither warlock was at all alarmed.

"Water," Qwan said.

"Water?"

"Yes, though augmented by No 1's magic so that it can neutralize the holy water. Just hold them still and administer this to each of the venom pouches on the inside of the creatures' jaws."

"Just hold them still..." Trouble repeated while his mind ran through a list of live-capture equipment that would be necessary to accomplish this feat. But considering that Neutrino blasts had minimal effect of the beasts, he supposed wire nets would probably be more efficient anyway.

"One dose and they turn into pussy cats." Trouble looked again to centre of the room where No 1 was scratching the graft's chin whose beady eyes were half-closed in an expression of utter bliss. "See commander? Harmless."

"His name's Harold," No 1 chimed in.

It was days like this that Trouble often wished he was still only a Captain.

**ooo**

Vishby sucked in a deep breath of air through his gills and released it slowly through his mouth. The air in the prison hallways was always so dry, and these long shifts without a breath of saltwater air was hard on his gills. Atlantian elves were not made for this sort of work.

The Deeps Maximum Security Prison, just outside of Atlantis, was an extensive facility with a good sized staff. Prisoner transfers to and from Haven City were as common as swear toads in the damp, yet Vishby had not had an assignment outside of the Deeps in over three years, not since the incident with that reprobate dwarf, Mulch Diggums. True, they'd lost the sub-shuttle, but the subsequent Internal Affairs investigation had cleared Vishby of all wrongdoing. Yet in spite of the official word, he kept getting stuck with babysitting duties. Opal Koboi might have been a brilliant, but even she could not break out of the Deeps. Why then did he have to stand guard outside her cell hour after hour? Especially today when half his comrades had been sent to Haven City to deal with the grafts that had been set loose. From the news snippets he'd seen, it was total mayhem over there. And yet here he was. Again.

"This is all Diggums' fault," he muttered to himself, not for the first time. And to think the dwarf had been pardoned too!

Vishby's gills fluttered as he drew in another long breath of dry, recycled air. He was seriously considering asking for a transfer to the Undersea Wildlife Deterrent section. Even scraping barnacles off the outside equipment would be more interesting than this.

Vishby was so caught up in fantasies of narrow escapes from sleek-finned sharks, that he didn't hear the first blast. The second shook the deck plates beneath his boots and set a cascade of alarms blaring to life.

His hand flew to his holster and drew his Neutrino. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd had to fire his weapon and his palms were slick around the grip, his gills flapping like stands of seaweed in an undersea storm.

Shouts echoed down the empty corridor as another explosion rocked the facility. There was nothing but static from his communicator. What in Frond's name could be happening? A hull breech? In the Deeps? Impossible. He'd sooner expect to see Mulch Diggums ride by on a unicorn's back wearing leotards and a tiara.

"Vishboy to HQ," he said into his communicator. "What's going on? Do you read?" Nothing. Static. It was as if something were interfering with the entire facility's communication system.

Sweat dripped down his neck, collecting in fat droplets around his gills as he waited. The rumble in the deck plates had gotten stronger and now he could hear the sound of Neutrino blasts somewhere ahead. He held his own Neutrino before him towards the far end of the corridor, finger poised on the trigger. He was ready for anything.

Or at least he thought so until the door at the far end of the corridor exploded inward in a flurry of red sparks.

He threw up his arm reflexively to protect his eyes. When he looked up again he saw a slight figure standing in the doorway. A child– no, a pixie, a pixie with jet black hair and eyes glowing red with magic set in an otherwise beautiful face. A very familiar face. Vishby almost dropped his Neutrino when realized it was Opal Koboi.

Opal heaved a sigh. "Another nuisance," she said and with a casual wave of her hand sent a red bolt of magic arcing towards Vishby. It struck him full in the chest and set him flying.

For a minute he Vishby lay on the floor, dazed, his ears wringing and his body aching all over. He could feel his magic going to work, though not nearly fast enough. Movement was out of the question, but from the down the corridor he could hear voices. Two distinct yet nearly identical female voices. Opal and... Opal?

"What took you so long? Do you realize how long I've been waiting here?"

"My plan required a certain amount of time to implement."

"Don't you realize what I've had to put up with? The insolent guards! The primitive facilities! The _food_!"

"This is hardly the time to–"

"You _will_ realize, you know." The voice dripped with the insolence that can only come from one who thinks herself entirely superior to the one she's addressing. "You are me. You will end up here one day, like it or not."

"We can discuss that later. For now we need to go before any more of these pathetic LEP fools interfere."

"Just let me get my things."

The deck plates rattled beneath him, jostling shattered ribs and sending pain stabbing through him from nose to knees. A shriek of frustration was the last thing he heard before he passed out.

* * *

**A/N: **The next chapter is back to Artemis, Holly, and Butler – I promise. In the meantime, thank you for all the reviews and enthusiasm. It's really great to know that people are enjoying the story.


	8. Eight: Mammoth Cave

**Eight: Mammoth Cave**

Artemis's fingers were pressed to Holly's throat, checking her pulse, when her eyelids fluttered open for the first time since the flight.

"Artemis," she croaked. He cracked open a bottle of water and brought it to her lips. She drank a few sips and then lay back again. Her hair was slick with sweat and her lips, cracked. "Where are we?"

"An hour south of Louisville, Kentucky," he replied. The rental car was parked along the shoulder of the I-65. Glancing to the back of the vehicle, he could see Butler rummaging in the trunk. "We have a flat tire," he added sheepishly as if this were a development he should have foreseen.

"How quaint."

"Butler will take care of the matter in a few minutes. But there might be some turbulence."

"Have you been able to reach Haven?"

Artemis shook his head. "No, I'm afraid not."

"What could be happening down there?" she murmured.

"We can concern ourselves with that once we've reached the fairy well. We won't get access to it until after dark." She nodded, but he could not help but notice the glassiness of her eyes and how the flecks of magic that leaped around her injured hand were a paler shade of blue. "I have a few questions in the meantime."

"Yes?"

"The iris-cam normally interfaces with your helmet. Is there a way to adapt the feed to another source?"

"Use the locator. Its computer should be able to receive the signal and feed it into a human monitor. You won't be able to access the higher functions – the zoom, infrared." Her voice grew hoarse as she spoke and he offered her a drink of water again.

He let her rest for a minute before he spoke again. "One more question, Holly. It's vital. When you were with Section Eight, the helmets you used had night vision that included filters that would prevent the wearer from being blinded by bright lights. Has that feature been added to standard LEP helmets?"

"Not yet," she replied. And then with a hint of a smile, "Budget cuts."

"Very well. You should get your rest. We won't arrive for another hour and a half." He moved to get out of the car then as Butler was preparing to use the jack, but her voice stopped him.

"Arty," she said. Even now, hearing her use his parents' pet name for him left him flustered. She had called him that in the past when she'd been turned into a fairy adolescent. She'd not used it since. "Thank you." And then she closed her eyes again and drifted back to sleep.

Artemis got out of the car and peered down the highway as tractor trailers and cars sped past, southward, in the direction in which all his hopes now lay.

**ooo**

"I'd still prefer it if you let me go instead," Butler said as they stood in the parking lot before the visitor's centre at Mammoth Cave National Park. The rental car's windows were tinted so at least they needn't worry about any tourists peering in and spotting Holly.

"Since I don't yet have a driver's licence," Artemis replied, looking up at Butler. "I think it best you stay with the car." Staying behind was tempting. He wasn't especially looking forward to a two hour walking tour in the bowels of the earth surrounded by jabbering tourists with camcorders, and he knew he would never forgive himself if anything happened to Holly while he was gone. But logically, he was the best candidate.

He resisted the urge to rub his right eye which now sported Holly's iris-cam, leaving him with a matching pair of hazel eyes. Just as Holly had said, he'd been able to use the locator to interface with his laptop and project the iris-cam's feed on its screen.

Artemis took a step towards the visitor center but halted when Butler boomed, "Shoes, Artemis." He glanced down at his loafers and sighed. Before they'd left for New York Butler had insisted he pack sneakers for their planned stakeout in Fort Tryon. They'd been retrieved from the jet and packed in the car along with their other supplies, most notably a pair of night vision goggles and two high-power flashlights. He now removed his loafers and pulled on the athletic shoes with a grimace.

Butler shook his head. "Most people don't go spelunking in a suit, but as long as you have the right shoes they can't turn you away."

"I'm off then."

"Good luck."

He was almost certain Butler was repressing a smile. Artemis straightened. "It's only a tour."

"A two mile tour that includes four hundred stairs."

"Four hundred and forty," Artemis corrected. "But I'm certain that I can manage. Olympian athleticism is not a requirement." And then, glancing back toward the tinted windows, "Take care of Holly."

"I will. Don't worry. She's a soldier. She'll hang in there."

Artemis nodded and made his way to the visitor's centre.

For reasons that defied logic, the western half of Kentucky was on central time so they had gained an hour when they'd left Louisville. That extra hour was the only reason Artemis managed to arrive early enough to attend the two o'clock tour that would take him down the route to the area where the fairy outpost was hidden.

Though it was late in the season, there was a sizable crowd, much to Artemis's annoyance. They milled about near the path to the caves, waiting for the ranger to lead them down to the main entrance. Decked out in beige and brown and a traditional campaign hat, she was currently explaining the legend surrounding the cave's rediscovery by American settlers in the seventeen nineties in what could only be described as a pronounced southern drawl. As they finally proceeded to the entrance, Artemis manoeuvred himself into the front of the group so that he – and by extension, Butler – would have an unobscured view. They would be making the trip down tonight without the benefit of the artificial lighting provided during regular hours.

A stone stairway with steel railings led down to the cave's natural entrance at the bottom of a ravine. Seventy feet at its highest point, the entrance seemed a gaping maw ready to swallow them down. A feeble stream of water cascaded from the overhanging ridge onto the cave floor to the left of the stairway. Artemis spared it only a moment before returning his attention to the path before them.

As they descended into the mouth of the cavern, the nattering of the tour group echoed off the walls. Artemis had to struggle not to grate his teeth as their inane chatter assaulted his ears. The darkness closed in around them and someone let out a wailing sound meant to be suggestive of a phantom. Artemis hated public tours. When he and his family travelled, they arranged for private guides as necessary.

The ranger paused to let the stragglers catch up and Artemis scanned the surroundings. There was little natural light now. To his right was a placard explaining that they had reached "The Twilight Zone," where natural light tapered off into total darkness ahead. It noted that racoons, salamanders, and various rodents often took refuge here and the placard bore the black and white illustration of a salamander and a rather plump rat. "Charming,"Artemis muttered.

Finally, the group began to move once more and Artemis let his eyes wander the cavern. He made a point of glancing behind to the other members of the group and up towards the ceiling so that Butler would get a proper sense of scale. The roof of the cavern was low enough here that Butler would probably have to stoop.

They made their first stop in the Rotunda through which a wooden walkway led, allowing the visitors to peer down into the cave while keeping them safely away from the artifacts below, the remains of the saltpetre mining operations of the early eighteen hundreds. He noted the number of spotlights required to light up the vast chamber with its vaulted ceiling. He and Butler would not have such luxuries.

From there they moved on through wider tunnels as the ranger explained the history of the cave's formation via water erosion. Some three hundred feet below, he knew, still ran the river that had carved out the cave. In fact one of the subterranean rivers was known as the Styx. An ominous name.

They passed a large rectangular formation with the descriptive name of "Giant's Coffin." He could not help but notice the graffiti of early explorers who had carved their names and the date into the rock upon visiting in 1839. It was exactly the sort of thing that would have caused Holly to launch into a tirade about Mud People. His chest constricted for a moment until he brought his mind back to the task at hand. He had to memorize this route in perfect detail.

The passages narrowed as they approached the area where the locator had indicated the fairy outpost would be. With the solid walls of stone looming close, he was certain Holly would have hated it; even if she'd conquered the claustrophobia that had troubled her in her youth, it was unlikely she would enjoy such cramped spaces even now.

Tonight she wouldn't be awake to notice in any case.

The ranger made a long cautionary speech before they entered the chamber known as the Bottomless Pit and then led them along the steel bridge that spanned the chasm. Even Artemis had to catch his breath.

Above and below, the walls stretched out into darkness. The chamber arched above, but the pit itself was elliptical in shape, perhaps six feet across at the widest point from the bridge. The sandstone walls were ridged, and in the yellow glow of the spotlights, the layers of sedimentary deposits of ages past were clearly visible in the grey and red of the stone.

"An explorer by the name of Stephen Bishop was the first to cross the Bottomless Pit," explained the ranger, as she leaned with unconcern against the railing, "back in 1838... when he was all of seventeen years old. He used a cedar ladder to make it across. Now back then they didn't have fancy lighting like we've got. He had a ladder and an oil lamp."

The crowd murmured its appreciation of the feat while a few cracked jokes, their voices rebounding in hollow echoes off the chasm walls. Shoes clacked on the steel grating of the bridge. A nervous laugh.

"When Stephen Bishop led tours," the ranger continued, "he used to set fire to bits of paper and toss them into the pit. They'd disappear into the dark and no one could ever see the bottom. Of course the pit isn't really bottomless. We know now that's it's 105 feet deep."

_Or so you think._

From what he'd learned from the files on Holly's locator, the shaft had once extended right into the core of the earth. It was only when humans had begun frequenting the cave that the pit had been sealed off so as to prevent human access to chute E108, a shaft previously used mostly by fairy tourists who had flocked to the caves for family vacations. Several hundred feet below them, hidden somewhere in the rock walls, was an abandoned fairy shuttle port. And somewhere in the ridged rock face on the other side of this pit was the LEP watchpost he needed to reach in order to gain access to the fairy well.

The tour continued on through a low passage known as "Tall Man's Misery," where all but children had to stoop, and a narrow, winding passage known, in a grand act of political incorrectness, as "Fat Man's Misery." Artemis imagined that Butler, watching on the laptop in the car, must be feeling some relief that he would have not have to pass through either of these.

From there they moved on to River Hall where the water that filtered into the cave system was collected. They were deep underground now, some three hundred feet. After having travelled deeper into the earth's core than any human in history thanks to his adventures with the People, this seemed a paltry depth to Artemis; thinking onself at any great depth here would be like a climber standing on a hillock and thinking he'd summited Everest.

Artemis's feet were aching by the time they arrived at the tour's final stop, Mammoth Dome where the ceiling rose cathedral-like above them. He paled when he lay eyes on the tower of stairs spiralling upwards like a metal cage, one hundred and thirty-eight steps strong. In the parking lot, three hundred feet above, he suspected that Butler was chuckling.

* * *

**A/N**: On the subject of Holly and Artemis's eye switch... Does anyone have a straight answer on which eye is which? Book five mentioned Holly's _left_ eye, but doesn't say which of Artemis's was switched. I assume that it's his right since it must have happened when they were looking into each other's eyes in the time stream. I would thus assume it was right which would have been facing her left?

Over-thinking things? Who me? ;)


	9. Nine: Lieutenant Lackluster

**Nine: Lieutenant Lackluster**

By nightfall, Holly's breathing had become rapid and shallow.

Some time earlier, at four-thirty to be precise, Artemis had emerged from the caves winded and drenched in sweat, to Butler's ill-concealed amusement. The final tour of the day lasted until six and they would wait an hour afterwards before making their move. They were so close now. Within a few hours they would reach the well and obtain the remedy, yet Holly seemed to grow weaker with every minute that ticked by.

Pressing his fingers to her throat, Artemis checked her pulse for the fifth time in the past half hour. A surge of magic shook her tiny frame just as his fingers touched her skin. Her cardiac rhythm spiked, galloping beneath his fingertips, while blue sparks fizzed up and down her arm, her throat, her chest. Her magic was attacking her own body, tearing itself apart from the inside out. And until they reached the well, there was nothing he could do.

He had seen her die once before on Hybras. That death had been sudden and brutal. Watching her fade before his eyes was excruciating in an altogether different manner. Yet observing Holly's plight had given him new insight into the graft's behaviour. It was a magical creature and the injection of holy water into the venom sacks must cause tremendous pain. It had been created to sense fairies and would instinctually understand that their magic could heal it, thus attracting it to them while the holy water also drove it to attack madly in the hope of ridding itself of the venom. He knew that if nothing were done, Holly's end would be the same as the creature's; her vital systems – her lungs or perhaps her heart – would give out and she would die.

Artemis glanced up as he felt the weight of a hand on his shoulder. "It's almost time," Butler said.

Artemis nodded. "We're clear on what has to be done?"

"Crystal."

He let his eyes linger on Holly a moment longer. Even in sleep, her features were drawn. Sweat beaded her brow and she murmured something through cracked lips. She looked so little like herself. At that moment, more than anything, he wanted her to open her eyes so he could meet that mismatched gaze again, the very mirror of his own. They had been through so much together and he refused to allow it to end like this. No matter what had to be done, he would reach that well. By any means necessary.

**ooo**

Breaking into the park's security fencing was about as difficult for Butler as a sudoku puzzle would be for Artemis. What was rather more difficult for Artemis was holding Holly in his arms while Butler disarmed the alarm. Though only a metre in height, Holly's frame was all muscle and sinew and Artemis soon found his arms trembling with the effort of holding her still form. She was not as light as she looked.

When he handed her back to Butler, the bodyguard lifted her into his arms as is she weighed no more than a feather. Perhaps she'd been right about the matter of getting in shape. He really had meant to do it. He'd just been... busy.

They made their way down the long flight of steps into the ravine where the cave entrance loomed like dragon's maw, their night vision goggles giving it an eerie green tint. The goggles projected an infrared beam that would allow them to see even in the pitch black of the cavern, where even high intensity flashlight beams could do little to sweep away the inky darkness. The flashlights they carried, still off, were for later.

As they came to the bottom of the steps and into the cavern proper, the trickling water to the left of the stairwell could not cover the sound of tiny, clawed feet scrabbling along the cave floor. Artemis grimaced, but kept his eyes straight ahead, concentrating on his memories of the tour. He had to remember the chambers carefully so as not to take a wrong turn. There was no time to waste.

They had quite some distance to traverse and it was slow going even with night vision. All the while, Holly's magic sparked along her skin crackling through the darkness, blinding to their goggled eyes. Above the echoes of their footfalls, Artemis could hear her every rasping breath.

Making their way through the wider tunnels, they had just entered the chamber that held the Giant's Coffin when Holly cried out, her voice shattering into a thousand echoes along the cave walls. Artemis stopped in his tracks, heart hammering as he turned. He saw a mass of sparks, almost white even through the green of the night vision, bursting like fireworks in the darkness. Butler gripped her small frame as her entire body spasmed, writhing beneath the force of her own magic.

"We _must_ hurry," Artemis said. It was all he could do to keep his voice steady.

Just as before, the caverns began to narrow again as they approached the chamber where the fairy blind was located. He hoped Holly had been right about it only being a two-man team. The more complications, the more time it would take to deal with them. And in spite of what he'd told her on the plane, time was ticking by faster than he liked to admit.

_I will do this_, he told himself, firm in his intention. Determination could overcome any obstacle. He had outwitted death before and time as well. This would be no different. _Years. Decades._ It all lay before them.

He slowed as they approached the chamber of the Bottomless Pit. They could ill afford any mistakes. "It's there, up ahead," he told Butler.

Butler nodded once and then, pulling off his goggles and switching on his flashlight, he moved out onto the steel bridge, Holly Short still gripped in his burly arms.

**ooo**

If you asked Private Arler Speedwell why he'd joined the LEP, he'd tell you that he wanted to "do his bit." What he'd really signed up for was to meet girls. Girls liked the uniform. At least that's what a private named Chix Verbil had told him. It hadn't been working so far.

Though the shift that corresponded to nighttime on the surface of the earth's western hemisphere was usually a busy one for LEP officers, with Recon and Retrieval units buzzing around aboveground after rogue fairies, here, in the LEP watch post in Mammoth Cave, the graveyard shift was just that – dead.

"Why do we even need to be here, Lieutenant?" Speedwell groaned as he leaned back into his chair and propped up his feet on the readout consoles. Five months he'd been stationed here and never so much as a blip. His wings were beginning to droop for lack of exercise. And no girl was going to go for a sprite with drooping wings. After all if you couldn't keep your wings up...

"Feet _down_," snapped his superior, swatting Speedwell's boots with his copy of the _Haven Nightly_ he'd brought along to read during the long, quiet shift.

In truth, Lieutenant Lyam Larkspur was hardly more pleased than Speedwell about their assignment. It was certainly not helping his career along. He'd already had to watch most of his classmates in the academy make captain while he remained only a lieutenant. Unless he managed to distinguish himself in some way he would probably remain a lieutenant for the rest of his days: he suspected that his superiors enjoyed the triple alliteration the rank gave him a little too much. Lieutenant Lyam Larkspur. It had such a nice ring to it, they said. And since being stationed in the Mammoth Cave outpost on the graveyard shift he knew he'd earned the moniker of 'Lackluster.'

"Yes, sir," grumbled Speedwell, sitting upright once more.

"Keeping watch is a serious duty. Don't you have any pride in that uniform?"

"But sir, nothing ever happens at this time of night. Not _here_."

The elfin lieutenant drew himself up to his full height of one hundred and two centimetres. "There were some close calls two years ago when the Mud Men were installing the new lighting system after hours. Three technicians had to be mesmerized to make them decide to put the wiring through on the _other_ side of the blind."

"I suppose, sir," Speedwell said, propping his chin up on his fist and leaning against the console.

"It's not _so_ bad," Larkspur said, more to convince himself than anyone else, if truth be told. "There are worse places to be stationed. You know, my family is from these parts."

"Oh?"

"My family lived here above ground until my grandfather's time. That was when the Mud People started coming from the old country and crawling over the surface here too."

"Lucky him," Speedwell said glumly. Being able to fly aboveground was every sprite's glee and something most of them got to do only rarely when they had visas to perform the ritual.

"He used to say that–" Larkspur broke off as he noticed something on the monitors. "Light."

Speedwell's brow creased. "Light what?"

Larkspur grabbed the private by the shoulders and spun him around to face the monitors. "Light. In the cave."

Speedwell stared at the screens and sure enough, a beam of light was pointing straight down the Mud Man bridge that spanned the pit. It seemed to originate from the adjacent chamber.

"Get suited up and check it out, private," Larkspur ordered. "It's probably just a technician, but we'd best make sure."

"Yes, sir!" Speedwell replied, wings quivering with excitement. He slotted his helmet over his head, slid the visor down and headed to the blind's exit hatch. With a deep breath he shielded and then hit the door's locking mechanism. A hologram of a rocky wall covered the blind. Speedwell flew directly through and then hovered just outside the door. He switched the filters on his helmet to night vision and scanned the chamber.

A long beam of white light was shining down the length of the bridge, moving now.

The lieutenant's voice came through the com set in his helmet. "Do you have visual?"

"Not yet, sir."

"Hold steady for now. Just observe."

"But, sir, what if–"

"Do not engage," Larkspur said emphatically. "And stop shifting your altitude so much, Just _stay calm_. You know, private, that grandfather of mine I was telling you about, he was a–"

"Mud Man!" Speedwell blurted.

"Now that's exactly why I don't tell most people about him. You tell someone your family lived with the Mud Men and they just _assume_–"

"No, sir, I mean there's a Mud Man– a _giant_ Mud Man!" Speedwell's voice had risen a full octave as Butler had moved out onto the bridge. He walked with slow, even steps until he was at the centre of the platform, directly across from the blind, at which point he stopped and made a slow turn until he was facing the wall where the hologram concealed the doors to the watch post.

"What's he holding in his arms?" Larkspur asked.

Through the night vision filter of his helmet Speedwell could make out a figure clasped in the Man Man's bulging arms. A child. No– it was an elf! An elf with captain's acorns on his shoulder. "It's an elf, sir. An LEP captain at that."

"A captain?" Larkspur mulled this over for a moment as the Mud Man continued to stand stock still before the blind. "Something must have happened to him and he mesmerised this Mud Man into bringing him here."

"Actually, sir, I think it's a 'she.'"

A she? A female captain? He hoped it wasn't a Recon officer because there was only one female Recon officer and he knew from personal experience that disaster seemed to follow Captain Holly Short around like stink on a stinkworm. And his career, such as it was, could not endure any more disasters. Maybe she was a traffic officer who'd gotten lost during an above-ground training exercise...

"All right, private... The Mud Man's probably under the _mesmer_, but stay shielded and approach with caution. No blasting, though. We can't have him drop her."

Speedwell took a deep breath. "Understood."

His molecules vibrating at a rate beyond the ability for human eyes to detect, Speedwell flew towards the giant Mud Man. The man held a flashlight in one hand, pointed downward into the pit while his arms supported the unconscious elf. His eyes stared ahead into the darkness, unfocussed.

Sweat dripped down the back of Speedwell's neck in spite of the climate control in his suit as he came to hover before the Mud Man and unshielded. "All right, Mud Man, hand her over, nice and slow."

The Mud Man's grip loosened and he held the elf out before him. Speedwell clipped one of his piton to her belt to be safe and then took hold of her. He noted the sparks of magic rippling up and down her arm. Peculiar. He'd seen injuries before, but nothing like this.

"I've got her, Lieutenant," Speedwell said into his com system. "What shall I do about the Mud Man?"

"Bring the captain back here and then go back to mesmerise him."

"Copy that."

Speedwell was more than happy to get away from the giant on the bridge and hurried back into the safety of the blind. The outpost did not include medical facilities so he simply set her down on the floor of the control room as Larkspur inspected her. The lieutenant groaned.

"Sir?"

"It's Captain Short."

"The Recon babe?"

Larkspur cocked an eyebrow. "Private, you're lucky she's unconscious right now. Very very lucky."

"Err... Yes sir."

While Speedwell hovered there appearing puzzled, Larkspur took a good look at the LEP captain. Her skin was almost grey, her entire body trembled, and her breathing was laboured. He pressed a hand to her forehead and found it hot to the touch. Her magic crackled wildly around her chest and throat and it had a pale, almost white tinge – very unnatural; not the healthy blue shade it ought to be. He was at a loss but took a deep breath and placed his hands on her temples. "Heal," he whispered.

Magic cascaded from Larkspur's fingers only to fizzle around his hands as if it were unable to penetrate her skin.

"D'Arvit! I know what this," Larkspur announced. "Holy water. She needs a medical warlock. I don't have the training to channel my magic enough to heal this."

"But Haven's still under lockdown, sir," Speedwell said.

"We might be able to get through on the emergency lines." The lieutenant rose and crossed the few paces to the blind's communication system. "This is Lieutenant Larkspur at outpost E-108. We have an officer in critical condition and require immediate assistance."

A few moments passed. "Anything?" Speedwell asked.

"I'm on hold."

**ooo**

The minutes between the sprite's disappearance with Holly into the blind and his reappearance were agonizing as Artemis watched from the next chamber over. All was, so far, proceeding according to plan, but leaving Holly in the care of another, even temporarily, was not something he relished.

The sprite reappeared, flying none too eagerly towards Butler, and Artemis tensed, waiting for his time to act. For the moment, everything was in Butler's capable hands.

"All right Mud Man," the sprite said, "let me get a look at you."

No sooner had the sprite spoken than Butler raised his flashlight so that the beam shone directly into the officer's visor, earning a "D'Arvit!" as the light blinded his night vision filter. Butler used the distraction to reach for the fairy blaster in his pocket, aim it at the sprite, and pull the trigger.

It was a tricky shot but Butler managed it with ease and a tiny dart lodged itself in the officer's neck just above the collar of his suit. The movement of his wings was enough to send him hurtling upward as the effect of the anti-gravity dart took hold. A few moments later a second officer emerged from the blind, his mechanical wings whizzing as he flew up the cavern shaft towards the sprite who was careening wildly every which way.

Timing was critical now.

Butler slipped on his night vision goggles and fired one of the pitons from Holly's belt into the cavern wall just above the blind. He tugged on it once to make sure it was stable and then, clenching the thin rope in his massive hands, hopped over the railing and swung across the chasm below. Artemis watched him disappear into the wall of stone – a hologram of course.

Heart pounding, Artemis scrambled over the bridge. He could hear scrabbling echoing through the cavern as the senior officer struggled to stabilize his nearly weightless comrade, whose wingbeats continued to send him higher into the darkness.

He came to a halt on the middle of the bridge where Butler had stood. A few seconds later the rope, weighted with a piton, swung back to him – seemingly from the stone wall. Hurriedly, he tied it around his waist (Butler has insisted) and then clambered over the railing. His palms were slick around the rope as he pushed off from the bridge and swung across the chasm.

There was an awful moment when his left foot caught on the edge of the opening and he felt himself slip, dropping so that his chest crashed against the stone floor and he scrabbled for a hold. And then he felt the vice-like grip of Butler's hand around his forearm, dragging him to safety.

"Thank you... Butler," he managed as he struggled to catch his breath. Butler gave him a quick once over and then helped Artemis to his feet.

Time was ticking away. Any moment now the two officers would sort themselves out and come down here, blasters drawn. And Holly...

Steeling himself to focus on the task at hand, Artemis moved to the keypad next to the blind's entrance hatch. He smiled a vampire smile; in his haste, the second officer had left it unlocked. Once they'd entered the hatch, Artemis rectified that immediately. By the time the two officers had managed to override the locking mechanism or burn their way through the hatch, he and Butler would be long gone.

The sound of Holly's raspy breathing filled the room and the sight of her on the floor stopped Artemis in his tracks. Magic coiled around her throat like a pale blue noose. _Just a little longer, Holly._

He took a breath, composed himself, and then he was ready to do what needed to be done. It would take more than a few trolls to keep him from getting Holly to that well.

As it turned out, there were, in fact, more than a _few_ trolls.

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you for all the comments regarding the eye switch question. It sounds like it was the left eye so I'll make sure to amend that.


	10. Ten: Out of ConTroll

**Ten: Out of Con**_**Troll**_

Butler had to duck his head to enter the lift and remained slouched once inside, his head brushing the ceiling. Artemis inspected the gnomish symbols and pressed the down button, taking them to abandoned shuttle port below.

When the lift doors opened, they emerged into a wide gallery, lit only by emergency strip lighting. Dusty advertisements hung on the walls: _'Guided cave tours and limited surface expeditions available year-round. Not recommended for children under twenty-five.'_ Under other circumstances, Artemis would have been fascinated, but the choked sound of Holly's breathing drowned out everything but the need to reach the fairy well as quickly as possible.

For a moment he fiddled with the locator which was not entirely clear about how to reach the passage leading to the well. He glanced up again, scanning the room through the emerald tint of his night vision goggles. There. Another poster. _'Real fairy spring water. Take a dip and feel the centuries wash away.'_

He pointed. "There." Butler nodded and they made their way across the gallery, hopping over a row of fairy-sized turnstiles (or clambering over in Artemis's case) toward a pair of double doors. An electronic signboard, almost blinding with the goggles on, hung on the door.

"What does it say?" Butler asked, peering at the Gnommish symbols.

"'Area off limits,'" Artemis replied. "'Beware of trolls.'"

"Ah," Butler said. "Looks like we're in the right place then."

Artemis tried the lock but to no avail. "We'll need to burn through the doors."

Butler nodded and then turned to Artemis, holding Holly out for him to take. Artemis accepted the burden, cradling his injured friend close against him. She was so tiny. He had never fully realized it until now. When awake, the force of her personality made her slightness of frame seem incidental. But now, like this...

Butler removed the clip of darts from the Neutrino and turned up the setting in order to burn through the metal doors. It took several minutes to carve out an opening large enough for them to pass through and by then Artemis's arms ached from her weight, slight or not. Finally, a metal square clanged to the floor, echoing through the gallery. Butler replaced the darts into the Neutrino and then took Holly back from Artemis.

For a moment they stood before the doorway. They had between them, one Neutrino, a clip of anti-gravity darts, and two high-powered flashlights. "Once more unto the breach, dear friend," Artemis said and then stepped into the darkness.

**ooo**

The chamber beyond the shuttleport's main gallery was cavernous, the ceiling too far above in the darkness to be seen. Cliffs and crags riddled the walls, and bulky shapes could be seen moving between them. A bellow sounded in the darkness, the echo rising and falling, surrounding Artemis and Butler like an army of bull trolls. They ploughed on regardless.

A stairway had been carved directly into the sandstone. The steps had been made for small fairy feet and were narrow beneath the sizable soles of human shoes. Artemis gripped the railing as they ventured downward, ignoring the sound, somewhere above and to his right, of claws scraping against stone. He would brave worse than trolls to reach that well. Though what precisely was worse than trolls, Artemis could not say at that moment.

He checked the locator. "There should be a passageway at the bottom of the stairs," he said in low tone.

The sound of trickling water caught his attention. It was difficult to locate here, where sound rebounded off the sandstone walls, but finally he glimpsed a slight cascade of water tumbling down the side of one of the walls and pooling on a high crag. He paused in his descent to watch a pair of trolls clawing their way upward towards the cascade, snapping and snarling at each other all the way up. The slightly larger of the two reached the top first and bent to lap at the water. It paused to take a swipe at its fellow as it tried to climb up as well. The second troll was relegated to dangling on the cliff face until the other was finished drinking.

"D'Arvit!"

Butler froze as the word echoed through the cavern. "It's all right," Artemis assured. "It's only a swear toad." He could see the creature at the bottom of the stairway. It croaked out another string of Gnommish words and Butler titled his head to one side.

"What is it saying?"

Artemis grimaced. "You're better off not knowing."

Returning his attention to the task at hand, Artemis made his way down the last few stairs. On a crag not fifty feet above, a troll was snuffling, its shaggy head raised, serrated tusks slicing the air. Its head snapped around and Artemis saw the pair of bright eyes – turned emerald by his goggles – focus on him and Butler.

"They know we're here," Butler noted.

"We've nearly reached the well," Artemis said.

"I'm more concerned about the getting back part."

The troll had begun to make its ways down, leaping from one rocky outcropping to another. Several of its nearby fellows, eager for a taste of whatever it had spotted, began to make their way downward as well. The air was rent by the grating of claws on stone.

At the bottom of the steps a worn pathway in the rock disappeared into a narrow passage. "It's this way," Artemis said, after verifying with the locator.

Though the trolls were not, as a rule, fond of climbing, these had adapted to it and managed to navigate the crags and cliffs with deftness. Butler tracked their movements, his eyes fixed on the beasts even as he spoke. "Take Holly, get to the well. I'll hold them here until you're done."

Artemis nodded. It made sense. The passage was narrow enough that the trolls would only be able to come at Butler one at a time and since trolls were not known for their cooperative spirit, they would likely to get in each other's way as they competed for a chance at him. Once again Artemis took Holly in his arms. He handed Butler the second flashlight so that the bodyguard was holding the two flashlights in one hand and the Neutrino 4500, loaded with a clip of anti-gravity darts, in the other.

"I'll see you shortly," Artemis said. And then he sprinted down the passageway to the well, his footfalls echoing on the stone walls.

It wasn't for a full minute that Artemis realized that he could no longer hear the sound of Holly's laboured breathing.

**ooo**

Butler had no illusions about his situation: he was about to do battle, though it would be a rather unconventional sort of battle. Once it began there would be no time for reflections or regrets, but in the moments before the trolls came, Butler found he was sorry that he had never properly thanked Holly. He had thanked her for saving his life when he'd been shot, of course, but it occurred to him that he had never thanked her for everything she had done for Artemis.

She had put herself at great risk both personally and professionally to help him, and Artemis was the better for it. He hoped he would have the chance to tell her so.

The first troll to reach Butler was a burly male, the largest there, its tusks caked with gore. Its matted dreadlocks swung behind it as it charged toward him on knuckles and hindquarters, its pelt a verdant green to Butler's night vision goggles. Averting his eyes, Butler simultaneously switched on both flashlights and pointed the beams directly into the face of the oncoming troll. The troll bellowed, raising its hands to cover its eyes and stumbled, its momentum disrupted. It landed in a heap a few metres from the passageway opening where Butler stood. Two more fell back as well, screeching as Butler shone the light in their direction.

At the edge his vision he noticed a blur of movement – a younger, craftier troll moving in from the side. While keeping the flashlights directed towards the snarling mass of fur and flesh ahead, he pointed the Neutrino and fired. No sooner had the anti-gravity dart lodged itself in the troll's shoulder than the now yowling beast began to hover over the ground, limbs flailing, claws scything the air, like a puppet with its strings in a tangle.

The effect was almost comical.

A nearby troll had to duck out of the way as the floating one's claws struck out in every direction, sending it bobbing to the left and right, throwing the surrounding group into disorder. The knot of burly males directly in front of Butler was very little distracted; the scent of fresh meat wafting into their nostrils occupied the foremost part of their tiny brains. When the younger one floated near, the closest male knocked him away with a casual thrust of its massive fist, sending the young one bobbing upwards only to crash into a crag to which it clutched with all its might, its howls redoubled and redoubled into a wild cacophony.

The other trolls alternately skittered back or lunged forward. Butler flashed the lights around and fired the darts, setting three more trolls bobbing into the air.

One of the lead bull trolls continued to thrash about even while howling and clutching at its burnt retinas, causing chaos among the lead group. The distraction it caused was enough to give Butler a moment to scan the cavern surroundings. Dozens of pairs of bright eyes shone through the darkness. His attention focussed on one that had scrambled to an outcrop to one side and was lifting something. A boulder, roughly the size of Butler's head. It raised the stone with one arm and tossed it like a basketball throw. The stone arced through the air and Butler had to dodge to one side as it smashed to the floor where he'd been standing.

The crash got the trolls' attention – as did the fact that the flashlight beams were no longer driving them back. Butler raised his hands again, blinding the trolls once more and shooting off several more darts, though he knew only a few more were left in the clip. The stone thrower was out of range of the darts and already hefting another rock.

Butler dodged away with nimble grace, but several trolls had taken to the idea and began tossing stones of their own. A hail of rocks, fist-sized and larger, began to rain down from all directions, leaving Butler to retreat several paces down the passageway for cover. Nostrils flaring, one of the bull trolls charged forward, batting away a stone the size of a melon with its massive fist. The Neutrino was raised, the trigger pulled, but this time there was only a click.

The clip was empty.

He flashed the lights into the troll's sensitive eyes while flicking the switch on the Neutrino to change the setting. Two and then three trolls were snapping at each other near the entrance, vying for the chance to move in on their prey now that it was cornered. Butler fired the Neutrino, giving the lead troll a long burst of concentrated ion ray. It stumbled back and was clipped by the scythe-like claws of the nearest troll.

The scent of blood on the stone floor drove them mad.

The injured troll found itself fighting off its fellows. Butler knew this was his one window of opportunity. He needed to fetch Artemis. They needed to get out of here. Now.

Butler raced toward the fairy well, the trolls' wails chasing him down the corridor.

**ooo**

Artemis's stomach dropped. He stumbled. _Calm yourself. There's still time. It is not too late._

His arms ached beneath the weight of Holly's limp form and his lungs burned as he raced down the passage. Behind him, he could hear the howls of the trolls, their calls distorted by the cavern walls, turned into a baying chorus worthy of one of the outer circles of Dante's inferno.

After an age, the passage opened up into a chamber through which echoed the sound of trickling water. Seen through the night vision goggles, it looked more like a lagoon than a spring, but according to the locator this was the place and these waters were teeming with fairy magic, enough magic to counter the holy water than ran through Holly's veins.

His arms clenched spasmodically around her still frame.

To the left of the entrance he noted what looked very much like a power switch. On the off chance he might be due some good luck, he opened the casing and pressed the yellow button beneath. A handful of intact power globes flickered to life around the chamber, leaving him free to tear off the night vision goggles.

The water was a dazzling turquoise, sparkling even in the dim light as it lapped at the rocky shore. The pool itself was no more than a metre deep in the centre and was fed by a thin stream tumbling along the rock wall from a crevasse above.

He approached the edge of the water and set Holly down on the ground. If she was breathing at all, he could no longer detect it. A single spark, the palest shade of blue, flickered over her bandaged hand and then died away.

Kneeling down next to her, Artemis reached into his pocket for the syringe he'd brought for this very purpose. His palms were slick as he dipped the syringe into the pool and pulled back the piston, drawing in the glittering water. Water. Only water. Yet it had the power to save Holly. It had to.

He tugged the sleeve of her Shimmer Suit up past her elbow, trying not to see her face, not to notice her cracked lips and the stillness that hung about her, a hunter waiting for the chance to claim her. With meticulous care, Artemis raised the syringe, tapping it a few times and then ejecting some of the fluid in order to rid the water of air bubbles. An air embolism was the last thing Holly's system needed right now. His hands were trembling when he finally brought the syringe to hover over the vein in Holly's arm. He drew in a shuddering breath to calm himself, willing his hands to steady themselves, and then plunged the tip of the syringe into the vein and injected its contents.

There was no immediate reaction, but this was to be expected. Her blood pressure would be sluggish now and it would take a few moments for the spring water to begin to circulate through her system. Instead, he reached for her injured hand and plunged it into the spring, his eyes straining for any sign of a magical reaction – a spark, a twitch, anything. But Holly remained unmoving... lifeless.

He cupped his hand in the water and brought it to her lips, letting it trickle into her mouth, repeating the process several times. And still there was no more reaction than if it had been regular water with not a trace of magic.

"Don't you dare, Holly," Artemis said, gripping her shoulders, tears streaming down his cheeks. All he wanted at that moment was for her to open her eyes so he could meet that hazel and blue stare again, that part of himself looking right back at him from another's face. It was unfathomable to think that it could end like this. Not after everything they had been through, not when there was still so much ahead. "You are stronger than this." But there was no strength left in his voice nor in his limbs which had turned to water.

His vision blurred by tears, Artemis dismissed the first flicker as a glimmer reflected from the pool's surface. He started up when he saw it again, a spark dancing over Holly's injured hand. And then more sparks, cascading over the wound, burning away the strips of cloth that bound it. Steam hissed from her pores, enveloping her in a humid halo as the holy water was vented from her system. Her body thrashed and strained, back arching, teeth clenching, hands alternately stretching out, claw-like, and balling themselves into fists.

Artemis could only watch, holding his breath until all at once she fell still. Completely still.

He leaned over her, reaching out with a shaking hand to check for a pulse, when all at once she drew in a deep breath and then another, gulping down several lungfuls of air. Her eyes fluttered open and he found himself meeting that familiar mismatched gaze.

"Holly!" Relief was evident in his voice, even to his own ears.

Smiling up at him, she reached out and touched the moisture on his cheeks. "Artemis... It was that close, was it?"

He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. "You have no idea."

She eased herself up. "I think I do," she said and then put her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. "Thank you."

He was smiling broadly as she drew away from him. And then, confident that she couldn't be angry with him just at the moment, "No kiss this time?"

She mimed a punch to his chin, but the blow landed with no force behind it, and she let her knuckles slide over the smooth skin of his jaw... almost caressingly. "Grow some bristle, then we'll talk."

_I'll hold you to that._

Her eyes widened and she leaned closer to him, staring into his eyes, brows creased. "Artemis, please tell me you're wearing an iris-cam."

Artemis carefully reached into his right eye and plucked out the iris-cam that he was indeed still wearing over his remaining blue eye. "I neglected to remove it earlier," he explained.

She sagged and emitted a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I don't think I can deal with swapping any more organs."

The sound of footfalls pounding down the corridor put an end to further conversation. Artemis turned to find Butler racing towards them. "We need to... get out of here," panted the bodyguard, his chest heaving as if he'd run a race rather than the distance of a single corridor. This too, Artemis knew, was his own doing, and something he would never be able to rectify.

"What's going on?" Holly asked, getting back to her feet.

"Trolls," Butler replied.

Holly rolled her eyes and turned to scowl at Artemis. "You saved my life just so we could be gored to death together. I'm touched, Artemis."

"The water," Artemis said at once.

Holly tilted her head. "What?"

"The trolls don't care for the spring water. In the outer chamber they were competing for access to a water hole. Why not simply come here? Unless the fairy magic in the water repels them. Douse yourself in the spring," he said and began splashing the spring water over his face and clothes.

"My suit is waterproof," Holly pointed out.

"Then take it off." She opened her mouth to object, but the look on her face was enough and Artemis quickly hurried on. "Or unzip it in any case."

Butler was already sitting on his haunches by the pool, cupping his huge hands in the water and pouring it over himself. Holly groaned and unzipped the front of her jumpsuit down to her belly, revealing the one-piece beneath it. She walked into the pool until she was deep enough to be able to duck beneath the surface. After a few seconds, she emerged, the dark one-piece now impressively wet and impressively clingy. Artemis took one look and then averted his eyes as if his life depended on it. Which it probably did.

"There had better be _a lot_ of trolls out there," Holly grumbled.

"Don't worry," Butler replied. "There are."


	11. Eleven: The Better Part of Valour

**Eleven: The Better Part of Valour**

Holly Short, the LEPrecon's first female Captain. She'd fought demons, played an instrumental role in putting down the goblin rebellion and in saving Hybras, and survived an assassination attempt by Opal Koboi. _And yet somehow I end up fighting trolls in my underwear._

She wasn't sure quite in what way, but somehow this had to be Artemis's fault.

Moving at a steady trot to keep pace with Butler's long strides, Holly regretted the damage to her suit's wings. Butler and Artemis were each armed with a flashlight, she with her Neutrino 4500. If Artemis was right, they wouldn't need them. If he was wrong... But this was Artemis. Annoying as it could be, he usually was right.

Ahead, a cluster of trolls was positioned at the passageway's entrance, snapping at each other, their grunts and snarls multiplied tenfold by the echoes. Holly shuddered, remembering the incident at the Eleven Wonders. This was only mildly less terrifying. At least this time she had Butler on her side and Artemis was himself. She didn't know what she'd do if the Council ever decided to have him wiped again.

Butler took the lead as they approached the far end of the corridor. As one, the trolls stopped sniping and raised their shaggy heads to scent the air. The lead troll made a sound–something like a snort but breathier. Could it have been... a sneeze?

Signalling for Holly and Artemis to hang back, Butler moved cautiously forward, like a leopard on the prowl. The bull troll snuffled for a few moments. As Butler inched forward, spring water dripping from his jacket, it bared its teeth and then let out a snort as it began to back away. The other trolls stumbled backwards as well and soon there was an opening in the ring.

"Let's go!"

No sooner had Butler spoken than Holly and Artemis were on the run, dashing down the corridor and into the domed outer chamber. Artemis was gasping for air before they reached the staircase and Holly rolled her eyes. "Start climbing," she snapped as he paused to catch his breath at the bottom of the stairs.

Butler positioned himself at the base of the stairway with the flashlight to ward away any troll that might get ideas, but the creatures seemed quite revolted by the scent of the fairy spring water and kept well away as Holly and Artemis ascended the stairs.

Who'd have thought even trolls had something they would turn their noses up at.

**ooo**

When Artemis, Butler, and Holly emerged from the lift, they found a pair of Neutrinos pointed squarely at them.

Wary of making any sudden moves, Holly took a step forward out of the lift and into the fairy blind. She could see the acorns on their lapels: a lieutenant and a corporal. She waited a moment, but when the pair of officers didn't lower their blasters she glowered at them. "Shooting a superior officer is not a good career move."

The lieutenant raised his visor. "But, Captain Short, the Mud Men..."

She peered at him for a moment. "Lieutenant Larkspur," she said evenly. He'd been on Retrieval during the Hamburg incident, the one that had nearly cost her badge, not long before Artemis's kidnapping plot had nearly done the same thing. Larkspur shifted uncomfortably while the corporal– Corporal Speedwell according to his name tag – darted a glance from the one officer to the other, his wings flitting about in a less than subtle display of nerves.

"It's... err... been a while, Captain Short."

She arched an eyebrow. "Let me introduce you to my friends Butler and Artemis Fowl. You may have heard of them?"

Larkspur licked his lips and stammered a, "Yes, Captain."

Casting both officers a withering look, Holly marched over to them. "For Frond's sake, stand down." They did finally lower their weapons, though neither holstered the blasters.

Larkspur squared his shoulders. "Captain, could you please explain what's going on? You were unconscious. I called Haven for a medical warlock but then the Mud Men took you and we thought–"

"They saved my life," Holly cut in. "There's a fairy well right under your boots. It never occurred to you to try to get some of the spring water?"

"But there are trolls down there!" Larkspur replied, taken aback. "We're under strict orders not to go down there under any circumstances."

"Well thank you, Lieutenant Lackluster," Holly snapped. "There are more important things than orders when someone's life is at stake. If you'd–"

"Repeat: This is Haven. Is anyone there?"

Holly scrambled to the communications system. "Foaly! It's good to hear your voice." She hit the button for the visual feed and the centaur's face appeared on the console's screen.

"Holly? Is that you? You had us worried! The last time I checked on your readings you'd nearly flatlined."

"I had holy water in my system. Artemis managed to get me to a fairy well just in time."

"Mud Boy's still with you? I suppose it's a good thing we didn't wipe him. He is handy to have around now and again."

"Yes," Holly said, glancing over her shoulder to where Artemis and Butler stood listening to the exchange. She caught Artemis's eye and smiled. "Now and again." And then, turning her attention back to the screen, "What's going on down there? I've been trying to contact you since yesterday."

"Someone managed to set more than a dozen grafts loose in Haven City."

"What?"

"It's been absolute chaos trying to round them up."

"I should get down there."

A second window opened on the screen and she could see the drawn features of Commander Kelp. There were dark circles beneath his eyes and deep creases in his uniform. "Negative, Holly. Haven is still in lockdown and we need you topside."

"Sir?"

"We've determined that the grafts entered Haven via chute E-102."

Holly frowned. "That's the abandoned one in New York, isn't it?" That was certainly no coincidence.

Trouble nodded. "I need you to head back there and investigate. Take the shuttle. You're cleared for surface travel. Communications are still spotty so you'll be on your own."

"Yes, sir."

"But, Holly?" She straightened. "Remember, this is a Recon job, not retrieval. Just find out what you can and report back."

"Understood, sir."

She ended the transmission and then turned back to her two companions. Artemis's brow was creased. "It doesn't make sense."

"Hmm?"

"To go to the trouble of developing these grafts only to loose them in the middle of Haven. It reeks of a diversion."

Holly shook her head. "We won't learn anything by standing around here." She spun on her heel to face the two other fairies who looked rather out of place as they shuffled from foot to foot where they stood on the far side of the room. "I need the starter chip to your shuttle." Larkspur looked like he was about to object but Holly raised an eyebrow and his jaw snapped shut. "And where's your equipment locker?"

**ooo**

The shuttle was nothing fancy, a transport buffed up by basic shields and weapons, but Holly revelled in the feel of the controls gripped in her hands. It had been months since she'd last gotten to fly. She'd so missed field work since Internal Affairs had grounded her during their investigation.

She eased the shuttled out of the docking clamps and deftly manoeuvred it through the narrow tunnel that led to the surface, careful for once to go easy on the throttle. Butler and Artemis deserved their rest. There was enough space in the cargo bay to lie down, which is what she'd recommended to her friends that they do. They'd not slept in over a day and she could see the fatigue in their faces, Artemis's especially.

The concealed shuttle hatch leading to the surface had been in disuse for centuries. She sent the remote code that would open it, but as the shuttle sped upward, the hatch ground open so slowly that she had to ease up on the throttle or risk smashing into it.

And then the shuttle burst through into a black velvet sky. Holly's heart leaped to the see the panoply of stars spread out before her and the moon casting a wan glow on the forest beneath them. It was wonderful to be in the sky again! She'd come so close to losing all this. If it hadn't been for Artemis...

All her joy drained away with the thought. Artemis. He made everything so complicated. Of all the Mud Men on this earth – and the most recent numbers said there were over six billion of them – how had her lot been thrown in with his? Even when she tried to keep her distance, fate found a way to throw them together again, to force them to depend on one another. And the worst of it was she couldn't truthfully say she'd want it any other way.

As she eased the shuttle into Mach 1, she found herself remembering the tears on Artemis's cheeks. It was strange to think that, in spite of everything he'd done, he might still need her... as much as she needed him. The trust between them might have been shattered, but the bond remained. Like it or not.

Holly glanced over her shoulder as she heard footsteps. Butler had to stoop to walk in the fairy-designed shuttle. He made his way over to the cockpit and somehow managed to squeeze into the copilot's seat. She smiled and switched on the autopilot. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Afraid not."

"What about Artemis?"

"Sleeping like the dead," Butler replied. "I told him to get some rest on the flight to Louisville but he was too busy keeping an eye on you."

Every time she had opened her eyes, Artemis had been there, checking her pulse, holding her hand, or just watching her. In spite of the fever, she remembered every word that had been spoken: the sprite in Ho Chi Minh City, how he'd gained access to the Book, his utter determination to save her. Years, he'd said. Decades.

"Thank you, Butler," she said, offering him a smile. "Both of you. I'm grateful."

"I should be thanking you, Holly."

Her brow furrowed. "Me? For what?"

"I know Artemis isn't exactly..."

"A paragon of morality?" Holly suggested, one eyebrow raised. Butler nodded. "No. He's certainly not."

"But he's come a long way. You've been a good influence on him."

_Not good enough._

"I know," Butler began slowly, "what happened when you went back to the past."

Feeling uncomfortably warm, Holly glanced up at Butler. "What?"

"That he made you believe you were responsible for Mrs. Fowl's illness."

She made a noncommittal sound and glanced down at the controls. She hadn't thought Artemis would mention... what had happened... and she was relieved that Butler hadn't regained his memories of the incident eight years ago. She licked her lips – and then chided herself as she realized what she was doing. Sometimes she imagined she could still feel a faint tingle on her lips, feel the sparks of magic that had danced around them when she'd kissed him. She was a grown elf; it was embarrassing!

"That wasn't one of his more shining moments," she said as neutrally as she could manage.

"And yet he confessed it. He didn't have to do that. The Artemis who sold that lemur would never have given up his deception."

"I know." She thought of Artemis staring down at her, telling her that he would save her, of the feel of her hand clasped in his larger one, of the look on his face, the sound of his heartbeat, his scent. "I just need some time." And time was something he had given her. _Years. Decades._

Somehow, it was a comforting thought.


	12. Twelve: Monsters Inc

**A/N:** My apologies for the lack of an update last week. Alas, ffnet wouldn't let me upload new files, leaving me rather displeased with it.

Anyway, on with the show...

* * *

**Twelve: Monsters Inc.**

"Up and at 'em, Mud Boy."

Artemis rose from the floor of the cargo bay with a crick in his neck and feeling even less alert than when he'd gone to lie down. Grogginess had settled over his senses like a sodden blanket, and a cup of coffee would have been welcome. He would even have settled for that dark, watery brew that passed as coffee at most drive-throughs, even if it wasn't fair trade.

Holly took one look at him and he knew instantly that she was forcing back a grin. "I take it we've arrived?" His voice was gravelly with sleep.

"Yes. I'd let you get your rest, but I think leaving you alone with all this fairy technology would be a bit too much temptation for Artemis Fowl."

"In this case, I'm more interested in what we'll find out there."

Her brow crinkled. "At least I'll be suited up this time." She'd managed to obtain a new suit from the equipment locker at the fairy blind, complete with functional wings, helmet, and armoured gloves.

The shuttle was settled in a glade and the camouflaging was activated as soon as they stepped out into the darkness. Unlike the previous night that he and Holly had spent in Fort Tryon Park, this one was overcast, the moon, a pale smudge behind the clouds. It must have rained during the day, for the ground beneath his feet was soft with moisture.

"We're back in the park?" Butler asked, sweeping their environs.

Holly nodded. "Back where we started."

Artemis rotated his neck again to try to work out the crick and grimaced. "You said the chute in New York was abandoned. So where did you arrive from when you first came to meet us at the Cloisters?"

"I had to take a commercial shuttle up and fly in from the Adirondacks."

"I see," Artemis replied, storing up the information in case it should ever be needed. In the space of a single day he'd learned the location of three additional fairy outposts.

"Let me get my bearings and then we'll head out," she said, checking her locator, which he'd returned to her along with her Neutrino and other items.

For a moment, as she worked, Artemis let his eyes linger over her. Decked out in her Shimmer Suit, complete with helmet this time, she was barely more than a metre-high shadow. While most of his brain was running through the several possibilities for what they might find when they reached the shuttle port, another part – the pubescent part he supposed – spared a moment to wonder what she wore when she was off duty; he'd only ever seen her in the Shimmer Suit or in human clothes snatched from the nearest wardrobe.

Artemis groped for his night vision goggles and pulled them over his eyes before she could notice him staring and make a wry comment. Or a snide one, depending on her mood.

"All right," she announced. "Let's head out."

Butler and Artemis followed as Holly took point. After fifteen minutes' walk Holly led them past a stony outcrop and the shuttle came into view. Whoever had left it here had been in a hurry; they'd not bothered to camouflage the shuttle in any way, a terrible risk in a region with such a significant human population. At once Holly and Butler drew their weapons. Holly raised a fist, signalling for Butler to hang back and then, Neutrino 4500 at the ready, she approached the shuttle.

The shuttle's rear hatch hung open and she entered through there. She made a quick survey of the inside of the shuttle and then emerged, signalling for them to approach. "Take a look at this," she said, pointing to the cargo area at the back of the shuttle.

Over a dozen wire cages were scattered over the cargo hold's floor, all empty.

"Seems we have the right shuttle," Butler said, Sig Sauer, still drawn.

"However, the fairy who was piloting it is long gone," Artemis noted. He paused to inspect a case that contained an empty syringe as well as several ampoules filled with a translucent fluid, holy water in all likelihood. For a moment he was transported to that day in Ho Chi Minh City, the sweltering heat, the crowded streets, the stench of human waste as they had ventured into the dark alleys.

"Flight records have been wiped clean," Holly announced from the cockpit. "This is interesting," Holly murmured as Artemis joined her at the front of the shuttle. "I just checked the registration. This is the shuttle I was looking for before they sent me up to talk to you."

"It seems it wasn't hijacked by adolescents after all."

Holly glanced over her shoulder at him. "Where would I be without you to point these things out to me?" She rose from the pilot's seat. "I'm going to take a look outside."

Artemis followed after her with Butler only a pace behind. In the light of the night vision goggles, Holly's suit had taken on the emerald tint of the traditional leprechaun. The irony did not escape Artemis.

_This is no time to be distracted_, Artemis chided himself. He forced himself to return his attention to the task at hand.

His eyes scanned the shuttle itself, noticing a series of dents, gouges, and areas where the paint had been scraped off. "There's significant damage to the hull."

Holly nodded. "It's pretty banged up. Amateur pilot."

"We've got footprints," Butler announced.

Butler was kneeling over a patch of mud and Holly did so as well. Artemis quickly determined that he could get a sufficient look at the footprints without bending into the dirt. His suit was soiled enough from their previous adventures as it was.

A pair of sneakers, size eight, he'd guess, had left prints. Another figure had also left its mark in a plain-soled pair of shoes. But next to these was another, a single print no bigger than a child's.

"A fairy," Holly breathed, "working with Mud Men."

"Yes, completely unheard of," Artemis said, straight-faced.

Holly sniffed and, beneath her visor, shot him what he was assumed must be a withering glance. "You two haven't been mesmerized."

"Not _recently_," he replied, one eyebrow raised.

Holly got to her feet and came to stand before him. "Watch yourself, Fowl. You don't have those protective glasses on. I could mesmerize you any time I choose."

Artemis gave a shrug, utterly nonchalant. "I'd be far less useful to you in a mesmerized state."

He wished he could see the expression on her face when she replied, "You'd be a lot less dangerous, though."

"Perhaps," he said, his tone sober. "But I think tonight you may want me to be dangerous."

"Maybe so," she said, punching him in the arm and then heading off in the direction the footprints led.

**ooo**

They found the truck parked to the side of an access road a few hundred paces from where they'd discovered the footprints. Emblazoned on its side was the colourful double helix of the Gene-Trix logo.

"It looks as if they needed two trucks to carry all the cages," Butler announced after inspecting muddy tire tracks.

Holly was hovering overhead, looking southward. "I have a bad feeling," she announced. "Do you smell that?"

"Smoke," Butler said.

"The Gene-Trix facility is south of here,"Artemis noted.

"I'm heading over there."

"Holly, wait," Artemis called out. "You're not in contact with Haven. If you should run into trouble..."

"I'm a professional. I can take care of myself," she said, but pulled something from her belt and tossed it to Artemis. He somehow succeeded in catching it, her fairy computer the size of a credit card. "But I'll keep a channel open." And then she shimmered out of sight.

Butler was hot-wiring the truck before Artemis even had to ask.

**ooo**

As Holly soared through the autumn air toward the Gene-Trix laboratory, what troubled her most was not the column of smoke itself, beginning to rise out of the building, but that the night remained dead silent. Where was the blaring of alarms? The sirens? The Mud Men should already have been swarming the facility.

She remained shielded as she approached. The Gene-Trix facility was situated just off the park, a walled compound with considerable grounds. The edifice itself was little more than a square box of glass panels and the smoke seemed to be emerging from some duct work on the roof. A company truck had been parked by the front entrance, the doors on either side left open, but there was no sign of the drivers anywhere. She performed a quick thermal scan of the building and frowned at the readings. There were life signs, several of them, but it was difficult to make out as something inside was most certainly on fire. She had to act fast.

Her omnitool made quick work on the front doors. Not a soul manned the security desk in the front lobby and the alarms were silent in spite of the smoke that had begun wafting up to the lobby's elevated ceiling. Her mask filtered out the smoke as she hovered up to one corner of the room where she wound a length of loaded fiber optics around the video cables of a security camera. "Artemis," she said, activating her helmet's com system, "do you read me?"

"Yes, we're patched in to your helmet feed. We can see and hear you. We're on our way over there."

"Something's fishy. The security system isn't functioning. I've got a wire tap. See what you can do with it from your end." It was times like this she missed Foaly. He would have been able to give her blueprints for the building as well as instant access to all the data from its security system.

"I shall do my utmost to fill Foaly's horseshoes," Artemis said, as if sensing her thoughts.

Holly smiled. "You do that. I'm going in."

She opened the thermal scan in her visor once again. From what she could tell, the fire was somewhere here, on the ground floor, while the thermals she'd detected were on the sixth floor at the very top of the building. Flying low to stay beneath the smoke that was now hovering like storm clouds around the ceiling, Holly managed to locate the nearest emergency stairwell and jetted up the shaft. In moments she had reached the doorway to the top level. From there she continued to follow the readings towards a cluster of thermal signs on the far side of the floor.

After a few wrong turns down maze-like corridors, and past a series of empty laboratories, Holly finally found herself at a door. Three thermal readings were on the other side, two human, the other smaller and slightly warmer, almost certainly a fairy. Holly darted a glance through the small glass window, but as the laboratory stretched out to the left, all she could see was the work station across the way.

Neutrino cocked, Holly took a deep breath and eased open the door. Pausing a moment to make sure no one was about to start shooting at her, Holly, still shielded, hovered through the doorway and along the left wall, past a series of counters on which rested the primitive biotechnology equipment employed by the human scientists who worked here. She could almost hear Foaly muttering "barbarians" right about now.

She froze when she glimpsed the first Mud Man up ahead, one of the technicians, judging by his lab coat. He was seated on the floor, eyes unfocussed, and... grinning. Her heart was thrumming against her ribs, her soldier's sense buzzing. Something was very wrong here. Holly zoomed in on the man's eyes. Sure enough, the pupils were ragged.

_Mesmerized. No surprise there._

A second Mud Man in a security uniform was seated at a computer terminal, his right hand swivelling the mouse, his left tapping command keys, as if he were involved in an intensive computer game in spite of the blank screen. It wasn't until she approached the computer at the far end of the room that Holly finally caught sight of the fairy.

A sprite. Her wings fluttered with nervous energy as she sat before a screen, fingers flying over the keyboard. A healthy sprite's skin was a smooth, vivid green, but Holly couldn't help but note that this one's was blotched and had a greyish tinge to it.

Holly shimmered into view, Neutrino pointed at the spite's back. "You're under arrest. Slowly move your hands to where I can see them."

"Are you from the LEP?" she asked without turning, her mottled green hands still dashing over the keyboard.

"Yes. I'm Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon. Now, put your hands up, nice and easy."

"Holly Short?" the sprite repeated, her voice raspy. "The one who sent Opal Koboi to prison? Twice?" She chuckled, the sound closer to a dry cough than a laugh. "How ironic."

"I'll only say this once more... Put your hands where I can see them."

"I can't do that just yet."

Holly hesitated. Already the thermal readings on her visor screen indicated that the fire was building in intensity and beginning to climb. The two Mud Men were mesmerized. They were too far under the sprite's control for her to make them leave without her say so. They were too heavy for her to carry as she had neither moonbelt nor any remaining Floaters. Six floors up was too high to toss them out a window. If the sprite was unconscious, these two men would almost certainly die. They were, for all intents and purposes, hostages.

"Artemis," Holly said into her helmet mike, "are you getting all this?"

"Most," Artemis replied. "I'm afraid my spoken Gnommish may require some refining."

"I can't shoot her while she has those two men under the _mesmer_. I won't be able to get them out of here alive. Have you been able to crack the system yet?"

He huffed over the com line. "I'm working with a far less sophisticated computer than what Foaly normally has at his disposal, on a Gnommish keyboard made for much smaller fingers. I need _time_, Holly."

"Time. Of course. All right. It's not like the building's on fire or anything. I'll see what I can do," she added before he could make a smart remark.

Holly turned her attention back to the sprite. "You can't, huh? Why not?"

"I need to erase all trace of my research," the sprite replied, fingers still working the keyboard like a performing pianist would a baby grand.

"You mean the grafts? We're not interested in your research. A team will be up here soon to clean everything out anyway. Now just come along quietly and ask these two Mud Men to join us."

"I can't do that," the sprite whispered, her voice trembling.

"Why not?"

"She ordered me to wipe out everything. All evidence. If I don't do exactly as I'm told..."

"Who? Who told you? Opal Koboi?" The sprite nodded. "You're going to prison no matter what happens, but you'll be safe there. You don't need to worry about her. You just worry about yourself."

She shuddered, wings trembling like a butterfly's in a gale. "You don't know her like I do. Nowhere is safe. And the things she's willing to do... I spent an age among the children of the dragon. I won't go back again."

"The what?"

Artemis's voice came over the com line. "What did she say just now? Something about the progeny of dragons?"

Holly translated the Gnommish phrase into English. "Children of the dragon."

"She means Vietnam," Artemis announced.

"Vietnam? How do you–"

"Never mind that. I need a little more time. I'm almost there."

"All right," Holly said to the sprite, steel in her voice, "whatever Opal did to you is going to pale in comparison to what _I'm_ going to do if you don't turn around _now_."

Another dry chuckle. "I doubt that very much, Captain." But this time she did raise her hands from the keyboard and turn around.

Holly gasped at the sight of her face.


	13. Thirteen: Roxane

**Thirteen: Roxane**

Even before the sprite turned, Artemis knew what he would see through Holly's cam feed. He'd known as soon as he'd heard her speak of the "children of the dragon."

A long, hooked nose, and a pair of slitted yellow eyes appeared on the laptop screen onto which Artemis had fed Holly's helmet cam signal. The sprite's face looked like a rubber mask that had been melted by the heat of a flame. He recognised that face instantly. So did Butler.

"Artemis," Butler began.

"I know," Artemis said. "Another mistake come to haunt me." It was the same sprite he'd encountered in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, the first fairy he'd ever come into contact with. The one who had granted him access to the Book, and through it, to the fairy realms.

Artemis continued working his way into the laboratory's computer systems while the scene unfolded on the laptop screen.

"Your face," Holly gasped.

"Yes." The sprite raised one hand to let her fingers trail over the melted skin that even her magic could not heal. "A cruel joke. I can fix the features of any other creature, but not my own. No one can fix this," she said in disgust.

"You're addicted to spirits," Holly said, clearly horrified. Artemis wondered that she couldn't cover her reaction any better. But Holly never did play it close to the cuff. You always knew where you stood with Holly Short.

"I was. Thanks to Miss Koboi."

"You're an associate of hers. The surgeon who altered her features a few years ago?" Holly ventured.

"Yes, that was my work. I was once a surgeon of some renown and a leading researcher in the field of biomagicology. When you were very young."

Why was she still talking, Artemis wondered. She too must be trying to buy time. Probably to allow whatever program she had implanted into the lab's computer system to finish destroying the files, and to allow the fire to take a firmer hold on the building. Artemis could see smoke beginning to waft into Holly's field of vision. With her wings, the sprite could easily escape through a window, unlike her two hostages.

"Sprites rarely have enough magic to be medical warlocks," Holly noted.

The sprite waved a hand dismissively. "Warlocks!" She snorted, nostrils flaring. "They can heal hacked off limbs but they don't have the finesse for precision work. Small, precise doses. That was my specialty. At least until Miss Koboi hired me to aid her with her research. She wanted to better understand how to manipulate living tissue and fluids, to extract material from them."

"That sort of research is illegal," Holly said through gritted teeth.

Artemis bit back a curse as his over-large fingers pounded an incorrect key on the fairy-designed keyboard. He was almost into the sprinkler system. That should do some good... unless of course the fire managed to find its way to some of the flammable materials used in most laboratories, in which case Holly would have to risk throwing those men out the window before the entire building went up in a chemical fireball.

The sprite shrugged. "She paid handsomely for it. And I thought, where was the harm?" Her laugh was like sand pouring over stone. "When she was done, she made sure I was in no position to report her."

"She dosed you with alcohol?"

"Yes. When I woke, I was in a strange land and my magic was nearly gone. I spent years in an alley, begging for a few drops of rice wine."

"How did you recover?"

"I don't know," she said, voice trembling. "I don't remember. I awoke after a bout of illness, healed. But Miss Koboi found me again."

"And you decided to help her murder the officers we had in the Fort Tryon Park outpost?"

The sprite shook her head. "Miss Koboi is the one who loosed the test cases in the park, not me. And what choice did I have? If I fail her..."

"You'll be safe now," Holly assured her, though her weapon was still drawn and pointed straight ahead. "Let's just get out of here while we still can. Ask the two Mud Men to come along quietly."

"I can't do that."

"What?"

"I used the researchers here to help me develop the grafts. Miss Koboi said to wipe out _all_ the evidence." The sprite glanced in the direction of the two men who remained blissfully oblivious to their peril, caught up in whatever fantasy the sprite had suggested to them.

"No," Holly said, horror plain in her voice.

"They won't feel any discomfort," the sprite went on. "I told them to imagine themselves at their favourite pastime. They'll be perfectly happy right until the end."

"You can't do this," Holly hissed.

A surge of triumph raced through Artemis's veins as he finally cracked the system and set off the sprinklers. He set to work on the air vents. If he could cut off the supply to the lower floors that would further slow the flames. He did not dare alert the fire services until Holly and the sprite were out, though.

The sprite was trembling as she spoke. "You don't know what it's like to be banished from the People, to be deprived of magic."

"Better that than to become a murderer," Holly shot back. Though his attention was focussed on the tiny screen of the fairy computer, he allowed himself the ghost of a smile. It was just like Holly to make such a reply. And he had no doubt that she meant it.

"You don't know," murmured he sprite. "You don't understand."

"Artemis," Holly said into her mic. "I'm not making anyway headway. How are you doing?"

"I've turned on the sprinkler system and cut off ventilation. Can you see any effect?"

"Negative. Thermal readings have barely dipped. It's too late. I'm going to have to shoot her and try to get everyone out myself."

"Wait."

The cam feed jumped as Holly tilted her head. "You have a trick up your sleeve?"

"A small one. I shall play Cyrano to your Christian and feed you your lines."

"Artemis, who– Oh never mind. Just tell me what you want me to say."

**ooo**

Over the years, there had been many times when Holly had had her doubts about Artemis's plans, but somehow he had always gotten them through dire straights. She hoped this time would be no different, because if he were wrong it would be a pair of innocent bystanders who would pay the price.

Taking a deep breath, Holly did as Artemis instructed over the com line.

"You're in enough trouble as it is," she told the sprite. "Don't add murder to the list of charges."

"Your threats are empty, elf. Nothing could be worse than what she would do to me."

"Is that so?" Holly paused a moment– as per the instructions Artemis was feeding her– and then, "_Forever doomed shall be the one, who betrays my secrets one by one._" Every school child knew those words by heart. It was from the opening passage of the Book. Yet the sprite paled, hands trembling. "What if the LEP learned about your Book?"

The sprite froze. "My Book?"

"Yes. Your Book," Holly said, with a slyness that was entirely feigned. "What if they learned what happened to your Book?"

"I don't know what you mean." But sweat prickled her green skin and Holly was certain it was more than the rising temperature of the room.

"How did you recover from your addiction to spirits?"

"I– I don't know – don't remember. I woke up healed."

"Are you sure you don't remember anything?" Holly prodded.

"A dream," murmured the sprite. "I remember a dream. A giant and a child..."

Holly's heart was in her throat but she managed to keep her voice calm. "And your Book... When you woke up, it wasn't where it was supposed to be, was it?"

"I– How did you–"

"It was lying out in the open, not where you usually kept it, deep in the folds of that filthy robe. You let them see, didn't you? You let the Mud Men see our Book!"

"You were there!" shrieked the sprite. "Spying on me! Please! Please, I don't remember what happened. I don't wish to be banished again. Please..."

"Then help me save them," Holly said, gesturing to the two men.

"I will. But please... It was an accident. I– I don't know what happened," she gibbered.

Holly rolled her eyes, but inside she felt her stomach churn most unpleasantly. Artemis could manipulate people like no one else she knew, though for once she was grateful for it.

The smoke was beginning to settle over the room like a shroud, and though the Mud Men continued to enjoy their _mesmer_-induced fantasies, they were coughing and gasping for breath. It was time to go.

"The fire exit is still clear," Holly said. "Tell them to get out of here."

The sprite nodded and did as she was told. In moments the Mud Men had recovered from their happy stupor and, suddenly aware of their predicament, were racing for their lives towards the stairwell. "Now we need to–"

"There's another researcher," the sprite squeaked.

"Where?"

"I left him on the first floor."

"D'Arvit!" That would explain why she hadn't detected his thermals. If he was on the first floor, the chances of the Mud Man still being alive were slim but... "Tell me where. _Exactly_ where," Holly drawled.

"In the room where we worked on the grafts. The central laboratory along the main corridor. The fourth door on the left." The sprite coughed. Without a mask like Holly's the smoke was becoming too much even for her.

"Get out of here," Holly said. "And don't you dare run. There are two Mud Men outside in a truck. Go wait with them. No questions!" she added before the sprite could protest. "And if I don't see you waiting outside when I get back, every fairy under the world is going to know how Artemis Fowl got a copy of the People's Book."

Blanching to an almost pastel shade of green, the sprite nodded vigorously. "Yes. Yes, I'll wait," she said and then took to the air, flying out an already opened window.

"Holly."

"Do you have any intel, Artemis? Because otherwise I need to you to be quiet and let me do my job." She was already flying back towards the stairwell. From what she could see of the thermals, the southern face of the building was rapidly being consumed by flames. Soon it would be an inferno and even her suit would not protect her were she to be trapped in it. But she had to do this. She could not let innocents be sacrificed for the sake of one of Opal's twisted plans.

"There are fire trucks en route. You have minutes, Holly."

"Copy that. Just be ready to leave when I get out," she said and then focussed on the task at hand.

Clouds of smoke were rising in a column through the stairwell. Holly tinkered with the settings on her helmet for maximum visibility and then dropped into a dive, pulling up just as she reached the ground floor. Wracking her memory for the layout of the place, she retraced her steps to the main corridor, hovering low to avoid the smoke. Embers dotted the air like fireflies, giving the smoke a lurid glow. She could feel the heat through her suit in spite of the climate controls. Sweat beaded brow; she thought she could hear the approaching sirens.

In the main corridor she drew up against the right wall. Her visibility was down to almost nothing and she had to resort to running her hand against the wall to feel for doors, counting them as she passed.

_One. Wall... Wall.. Wall... Two._

Another span of wall. Three– no. A fire extinguisher. _Too late for that now._

More wall and then... Three. One more door.

A roaring filled her ears. Not far ahead, the orange glow had become a bright haze. Through it she glimpsed the flicker of flames lapping up the walls and inching towards the ceiling. Once it caught, debris would start raining on her head. Not much time.

Relief swelled through her as she felt the irregularity of a doorframe beneath her hand. She scrabbled around for the door handle and threw open the door. Smoke followed after her in the seconds before he slammed it closed behind her. Scanning the room, she willed her heartbeat to steady. Where was he? The smoke was thinner here, but she couldn't see more than a metre ahead. The room seemed elongated, much like the laboratory where she'd encountered the sprite, but divided by several islands. She hovered low the ground and searched the room aisle by aisle.

"D'Arvit! I don't see him."

It crossed her mind that the sprite might have lied, might have told her there was a third man in the hope of giving herself time to escape, or with the idea that if Holly didn't survive the fire, she wouldn't be able to report her.

"Holly, there's not much time." Artemis's voice was taut through the com channel. "The building's structure is compromised. You need to get out of there."

She didn't take the time to reply; she kept searching in a methodical grid pattern. If he was here she would find him. If not... she was going to introduce that sprite to the wrong end of her buzz baton.

"Holly, you need to–" She hit the mute. He was a genius after all; if he had something important to say she was confident he'd figure out how override it. In the meantime she needed no distractions.

It wasn't until she'd covered some three quarters of the room that she finally found him, a tall man in a lab coat, darkened to grey by soot. He was face down on the floor, unmoving. Holly pressed her fingers against his throat. A thready pulse. Good. There was still time.

He was twice her height; more than twice her weight; too much for her to carry. She would have to rely on the suit's wings. Reaching to her belt, she pulled a tether from it and tied it around the man's chest, just below the arms. She also took a moment to drape some camfoil around him. The material was flame retardant and would give him some protection anyway; she hadn't gone to all the trouble of locating him just to let him get burnt to a crisp on the way out.

As she rose slowly, her suit's wings whirred in protest for a few seconds and then adjusted to the added weight. The unconscious man's bulk made it difficult to manoeuver and left her flying through the denser smoke. The heat penetrated her suit.

Her first instinct was to fly to the far wall and head out the nearest window. Then she remembered: the sprite had said it was the central laboratory. They were in a windowless room in the centre of the building. She would have to head back out into the main corridor. Wonderful.

When she reached for the doorknob, she could feel the heat even through her glove. Her passenger was not going to enjoy this ride. But then in all likelihood, neither was she.

Holly opened the door and found herself faced with a blazing inferno. The flames had stormed over the walls and were consuming the ceiling. The roaring was tremendous, as if she were flying through a dragon's gullet. A chunk of something – drywall perhaps – crashed down in front of her. She swerved and gunned her throttle, surging through a veil of fire.

Debris showered her, filling her vision with flares of orange. Even through her helmet's filters, the air was hot enough to sear her lungs. Just a little further.

Something caught her in the shoulder, and with the weight of her passenger she couldn't compensate in time and was sent careening downward into the floor. A tremendous groaning followed from above, the yawn of a behemoth it seemed, and she felt the weight of a mountain come crashing down atop her.

* * *

**A/N:** Just by the by, the title of this chapter is a reference to the character in Cyrano de Bergerac, the play referenced by Artemis... not the song by the The Police. ;)


	14. Fourteen: Stubble

**Fourteen: Stubble**

"D'Arvit! I don't see him."

As Artemis watched Holly via her cam feed, his mind dwelled on the very real possibility that this might all be a ruse on the part of the sprite, one meant to entrap Holly. A dead officer could not testify in court after all. He knew better than to mention this to Holly, though; the mere possibility of treachery would not be enough to dissuade her.

"Holly, there's not much time. The building's structure is compromised. You need to get out of there."

His lips thinned to a line as he watched her continue her methodical search of the room. She was far too stubborn for her own good. The odds of a successful rescue under such circumstances were low enough to begin with; every moment that passed reduced those odds considerably.

"Holly, you need to get out of there. There's no more time..." He trailed off and turned to Butler whose eyes were likewise rivetted to the screen. "She's put me on mute," Artemis said, frowning, more than a little offended.

"Did she?" Butler replied, straightfaced. But Artemis knew him better than that.

Though Holly located the researcher some moments later, when he glanced up at the building, relief was not something Artemis could allow himself. Flames billowed out of the roof in crimson jets, topped by columns of black smoke. The wail of sirens grew closer as the seconds ticked by.

Returning his attention to the laptop screen that was propped up in the front of the truck between himself and Butler, Artemis watched with rapt attention as Holly made her way back towards the exit. There were no windows and she would have to fight her way back to the lobby.

His mind occupied itself running calculations. Modern building standards were such that floor and wall materials incorporated flame retardants, causing less intense fires – at least in theory. When temperatures exceeded seven hundred degrees centigrade, windows would blow out; this had not yet happened so the fire had not yet reached a full stage of development. There was still time.

Yet even with that thought in mind, Artemis was appalled by the inferno that appeared on the laptop screen as Holly emerged into the corridor. How she could orient herself through the smoke and the flame, he couldn't guess, and he found himself wishing he had a better notion of what range of temperatures her Shimmer Suit could accommodate.

He leaned forward, staring at the screen as the feed careened wildly. Debris rained down until all at once the screen went dark. Artemis's blood ran cold.

Seconds ticked by and neither Artemis nor Butler moved, eyes rivetted to the screen, unblinking. The sirens were close now.

"Artemis," Butler began.

"We've lost the signal," Artemis said evenly. "Her helmet was damaged, that's all."

"We can't wait much longer."

Artemis looked to the Gene-Trix building, straining to catch sight of any movement through the smoke and the flames. The truck had been parked at a safe distance. Even so, when the windows blew out, the explosion rocked the vehicle and Artemis, ducking down, could feel a wave of heat wash over them. When he glanced up again through the cracked windshield, he saw a dark blotch against the light of the flames, shooting towards them.

He threw open the truck's door and his feet hit the ground just as hers did.

Holly pulled off her helmet with one arm, the other cradled against her chest, blue sparks dancing around her shoulder and collar bone. "Help me untie him," she said hoarsely, jutting her chin towards the man at her feet. Before Artemis could so much as kneel down though, Butler was by his side brandishing a long knife and handily cut the man loose.

Holly knelt next to the man and lay her good hand on him, the other still pressed to her chest. "Heal," she croaked. Magic sparked from her fingers and began a mad dance over the injured man. She yanked off the cam foil and then staggered to her feet. "That should be enough." At the sound of the sirens, she glanced over her shoulder.

"Come on," Butler said, already racing back to his place in the driver's seat.

"The others?" Holly asked.

"We have the sprite in back," Artemis said. "The two men took off that way," he said pointing in the direction of the sirens. Holly nodded and climbed up into the truck, squeezing in between Butler and Artemis. Butler did not spare the gas pedal.

It was only when they were out of the compound and were back in the park that they breathed a collective sigh of relief. They were eager to abandon the vehicle and no one spoke a word until Butler pulled over and they all piled out again.

"You had us worried," Butler said, smiling as he looked down at Holly.

"Your camera feed went out," Artemis explained. He reached out to squeeze her uninjured shoulder and she knew enough to understand from that how worried he had been.

She gripped his forearm, smiling. "I got caught in some debris, but nothing a few Neutrino blasts couldn't clear. I'm a little banged up, but nothing permanent," she said rotating her injured shoulder. "Frond it's good to have my magic working properly again."

"Magic is wonderful stuff," Artemis said.

"Bet you wish you still had some of your own." She winked and then they headed back to the shuttle.

**ooo**

The fairy shuttle scudded through the night sky, like an oddly shaped cloud, blotting out the stars and, not for the first time, Artemis wondered at the technology that made the People's hidden existence possible.

Unable to contact Haven, Holly had offered in the meantime to fly them back to Kentucky so that Butler could reclaim the Lear jet they'd left at the Louisville International Airport. Butler had remained in back to keep an eye on the sprite. He donned mirrored lenses and his most fearsome scowl for the occasion. Artemis had taken up position in the copilot seat where he could watch the night sky ahead and cast the occasional glance at the shuttle's pilot.

It was she who broke the silence first. "So that's her... the sprite you blackmailed in Ho Chi Minh City."

"Yes. It's her."

"Why doesn't she recognise you and Butler?"

"I mixed a mild amnesiac into the cure I administered to her, hence her confusion about events."

Holly glanced over her shoulder at him, incredulous. "You thought of everything, didn't you?"

Artemis shrugged. "It was a plan two years in the making. I believed I'd ironed out every flaw."

Holly snorted. "Every flaw my foot."

"I could hardly be expected to plan for rogue trolls, dwarf gas, and overly tenacious LEP captains." He paused a moment before speaking his mind. "Will you report what you've learned?"

She looked straight ahead, hands making subtle adjustments to the controls, though he knew she could just as easily have engaged the autopilot. "Report what? That she dreamt she saw a giant Mud Man and that you convinced her that her dream was real and she'd shown her Book to someone?" Holly turned and caught his eye then, blue and hazel. "What good would it do? What's done is done." And then, glancing ahead again, "Maybe it even turned out for the better."

A vampire smile curled his lips. "Perhaps."

"Oh and another thing... The children of the dragon – what was that about?"

"Ah that," Artemis said, steepling his fingers. "According to legend, the Vietnamese people are the descendants of a dragon and a fairy." Holly's eyebrows shot up. "The Vietnamese refer to themselves as the children of the dragon, grandchildren of the fairy."

"Do you collect these sorts of stories, Artemis?"

"I do a great deal of research."

Holly muttered something in Gnommish that he didn't quite catch. He thought better than to ask her to repeat it.

**ooo**

"Haven, do you read?"

The whinny that greeted Holly's ears was answer enough. "Loud and clear, Holly. I'll patch you through to the commander." She'd set the shuttle down only a few moments ago and, anxious for news of Haven, had reported in immediately.

Trouble's image appeared on the shuttle screen, looking more dishevelled and worn than ever. "Captain, you've got something to report?"

"Yes, sir. I can confirm that Opal's behind the grafts."

He nodded. "We know."

A chill ran down Holly's spine. "Sir?"

"Atlantis sent us extra forces during the crisis. While they were helping us round up the grafts, Koboi– the time-travelling one– broke herself out of prison."

"D'Arvit! That was her plan all along."

Trouble heaved a sigh. He looked about a century older than his years. "What did you find at the chute?

"An abandoned shuttle. And I have her accomplice in custody."

Trouble raised an eyebrow. "As I recall I ordered you to do recon, not retrieval."

"The situation got out of hand, sir, and I had to intervene." Glancing to one side, she thought she saw a smile on Artemis's lips.

"Is there anything else I should know?"

"We need a team to retrieve the abandoned shuttle outside of chute E-102... And there's significant collateral damage to the Gene-Trix building, but no loss of life."

Trouble's brow crinkled. "We'll talk about this later. What about Fowl?"

Holly glanced over to where Artemis was seated in the copilot's seat, looking a little worse for wear with the bags beneath his eyes and his rumpled and smudged suit. "He's right here."

"Holly, can I remind you that your career isn't going to survive any more of these Fowl incidents?"

"Artemis went to a lot of trouble to save my life today," she said without hesitation, drawing herself up. "And if it weren't for him we'd have several dead Mud Men to account for."

Heaving a sigh, Trouble nodded. "All right, Captain. All right. You can pass along my thanks."

"No need," Holly said. "I'm sure he heard you."

Trouble raised an eyebrow but said nothing further on the subject. "I'll be anxious to see your report, Captain. Get back down here as soon as you can."

"Yes, sir."

"Haven out."

The screen went dark and Holly slumped back into her seat. "Two Opals. Just what we needed." She glanced askance at Artemis when he chuckled. "There's something funny about this?"

Artemis flashed an incisor. "Having recently had the experience of meeting a past version of myself, I can testify that it isn't necessarily a pleasant one. I was thinking that perhaps Opal may not quite know what she's in for."

"Let's hope."

They both turned as Butler popped his head into the cabin. He looked about to speak but was interrupted by the ring of Artemis's phone. Artemis's lips thinned when he saw the number, but he answered.

"Hello, mum." Holly watched him intently as he spoke. "Yes, I'm sorry about that. My research took us to the wilds of Kentucky– Yes Kentucky. The reception was terrible. I'm not surprised you couldn't reach me. I'm sorry I worried you." He paused again. "A cave system. I'll tell you all about it when we get home."

Holly snorted. Liar. He shot her a less-than-genial look. "No. Nothing like that. It was all very routine," he went on. "We'll be headed back tomorrow." Another pause. "Goodbye, mum." He replaced the phone and sighed.

"Artemis?"

"Yes?"

"Your mother..." Holly began. "You said she was conscious while Opal possessed her. How much does she remember?"

"Everything." His frankness surprised her. But then she didn't think a standard mindwipe would be effective in a case like this. If magic was involved then the memories would be grafted to Angeline Fowl's being, as permanent as the results of a magical healing. He must have realized this already. "She's been keeping very close tabs on me of late."

A wan smile played over Holly's lips. "I know the feeling." Her superiors had been keeping a very close eye on her as well these past months.

"I suppose in that case that we shouldn't keep our keepers waiting," Artemis said, rising from his seat.

Butler, crouching to avoid the low ceiling, smiled down at Holly. "It was good to see you again. Even if things got a little out of hand."

She laughed. "They always do somehow." She activated her wings to hover at his level and embrace him. "Thanks for your help. I always know who to call when there are trolls to deal with."

"I imagined retirement would be quieter than this," Butler said.

"With Artemis involved?" she said with a raised eyebrow.

Butler smiled and then moved towards the exit hatch, and Holly realised with a mixture of amusement and embarrassment that he wanted to allow her and Artemis to say their goodbyes alone. It wasn't necessary– not really– and yet she was oddly grateful. Butler stepped out of the hatch and, still hovering, she turned then to Artemis.

She had a snide remark on the tip of her tongue, but it died on her lips the instant her eyes met his. Blue and hazel, the very reflection of her own gaze. For a long moment neither spoke.

"You're going to keep investigating Opal, aren't you?" she said finally.

"Yes. Though I'd be happy to share my findings with LEP. Under certain conditions."

She crossed her arms and scowled. "What conditions? You know we're not going to grant you access to fairy technology and you've gotten enough of our gold already. So what is it? Spit it out."

"Any information I uncover would be highly sensitive of course, too much to risk having it intercepted over a communications line. That being the case I would require that the LEP send someone to discuss the matter personally, and since I've had less than cordial relations with other members of the police force, I would have to insist that they send you, Holly. That is of course assuming that you don't object."

Holly's mouth hung open, but no sound came out. Artemis was looking particularly smug and she was torn between the desire to hug him and the desire to wipe that smug smile off his face. Finally, the former won out and she hugged him fiercely. "I'd tell you to stay out of trouble if I didn't think it would be completely futile."

She felt the slight rumble in his chest as he chuckled. And then, for a moment, she could feel the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. She recalled with utter clarity that moment in the park, waking in his arms, how familiar it had all been somehow: his scent, his warmth, and the pulse of that life that had become so intertwined with her own these few years.

She drew back to look into his face, her cheek brushing against the smooth skin of his. Not a hint of stubble. For all his genius, he was still only fifteen. "Take care, Artemis," she said, smiling.

"And you, Holly," he replied softly. She kissed him on the cheek and then alighted on the floor of the shuttle.

As she watched him disappear down the shuttle gangplank, she found that, against all odds and her own better judgement, she missed him already.

**ooo**

"You look pleased, Artemis," Butler said once they were back aboard the Lear jet.

Artemis smiled his best vampire smile. "I have a new project," he explained. "Though I expect this one will be a long-term affair."

Butler's eyebrows arched but he knew better than to ask. Artemis turned towards the bunks in the back of the plane but then stopped in his tracks and turned to face Butler once more. "Oh and, Butler," he said, rubbing at his still smooth chin, "at what age did you need to start shaving on a daily basis?"

_I will hold you to that indeed, Holly._

**The End**

* * *

**A/N:** And there you have it! Many thanks to those who've reviewed, especially to those who came along for the whole ride; I hope you enjoyed it in spite of the unusually numerous cliffhangers. ;) And thank you also to those who will review in future. It's always nice to know people are reading a fic even when it's not quite as shiny and new as it once was.

I do have another A/H piece on the way, a sort of follow-up to The Problem. It's mostly romance so not much in the way of action, though. I just need a few weeks to polish it off and hopefully I can start posting it then.


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